2022 Taupenot-Merme Bourgogne Aligote

Aligoté has long been dismissed as Burgundy’s other white grape. No one thinks “Aligoté” when they hear “white Burgundy,” and that’s no coincidence. In 1937, the powers that be in France restricted Aligoté grown in the Côte d’Or to the generic Bourgogne Aligoté appellation, leaving more prestigious village designations for the region’s golden child, Chardonnay, and its red counterpart, Pinot Noir. As a result, Burgundian vignerons largely turned away from Aligoté, planting it solely in lesser vineyard sites with an emphasis on quantity over quality. That’s all started to change in recent years, however, as open-minded vignerons such as Romain Taupenot are breathing new life into this underdog grape variety.