2020 Bourgogne Aligote

The princess grape to Burgundy’s queen Chardonnay, the charming Aligoté. Peachy, smokey, with a hint of snowpea and fresh lime. Cloudy as a moody sky. A lunch time drink after working in the yard. Domaine Derain is a prolific producer in Burgundy, who tends to vines in a number of different Burgundian appellations, biodynamically. Dominique Derain started his career making wine barrels (a rare art) but decided, instead, to study winemaking in Beaune. In 1988 he and his wife Catherine purchas...Read More...

The princess grape to Burgundy’s queen Chardonnay, the charming Aligoté. Peachy, smokey, with a hint of snowpea and fresh lime. Cloudy as a moody sky. A lunch time drink after working in the yard. Domaine Derain is a prolific producer in Burgundy, who tends to vines in a number of different Burgundian appellations, biodynamically. Dominique Derain started his career making wine barrels (a rare art) but decided, instead, to study winemaking in Beaune. In 1988 he and his wife Catherine purchased 5.5 hectares of vineyards in Saint-Aubin just south of Beaune and chose to start making wines as they saw the earth wanted to express them, rather than to the rules of the appellation. The Saint-Aubin appellation is one of the hidden secrets of Burgundy because the vineyards border those of the premier crus of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet but do not command anywhere near their price, and to have such a unique expression of the terroir, is something else entirely. Dominique has since retired but his longtime assistant Julien Altaber and his partner, Carole Schwab, bought the domaine and now run it, alongside their own label, Sextant. A generational change but with the mentorship of Dominique still present, Julien and Carole have the Domaine in safe hands. 

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