Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne Aligote

Founded in 1880 and now stewarded by the fourth generation, Maison Joseph Drouhin made a deliberate choice that sets it apart from most large Burgundy négociants: the entire portfolio is restricted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay — and, at the regional level, Aligoté. This Bourgogne Aligoté is the house's sole concession to Burgundy's other white grape, and it is treated with the same low-intervention rigour applied across the range. Drouhin's Burgundy AOC parcels sit on the clay-limestone soils characteristic of the Côte d'Or's lower slopes, where the grape's naturally high acidity is preserved by the cooler mesoclimates and the biodynamic farming — horse-ploughed, cover-cropped — that has been ECOCERT-certified since the 2009 vintage. Vinification follows slow pneumatic pressing with free-run juice separated from press fractions; alcoholic and malolactic fermentation proceed in French high-forest oak barrels using indigenous yeasts, with light bâtonnage during élevage and 10–25% new oak depending on appellation level. What is unusual here is the application of a Grand Cru–calibre winemaking protocol — native yeast barrel fermentation, lees contact, tasting-led élevage decisions — to an appellation where most producers opt for tank-fermented, early-bottled simplicity. The current vintage delivers Aligoté's signature chalky tension and citrus-pith drive, softened fractionally by lees texture, and is best consumed within three to four years of harvest.