Blason de Bourgogne Aligoté 2007

I purchased this wine not because I thought it would be good, or because it was cheap, but because it was a white Burgundy made from the Aligoté grape, which is the second most planted white grape in Burgundy, after Chardonnay.

OK I'll come clean now, it is also an IWC bronze medal winner, and it was on offer, so there's 3 reasons to give it a try.

I probably enjoyed it about as much as last night's Pinot Grigio. It was very acidic, and the only things I could get out of it besides the usual generic apple-and-pear flavours were water (?!) and a sort of spirity, Grappa-like sensation.

Doing a little research, this is a grape that plays second fiddle to Chardonnay, although it seems to be a good grape for blending because of its high acidity, and comes in handy for its resistance to cold weather (I wonder if they grow it in Canada? Just checked...yes they do).

Interestingly, there was a bit of sediment in the bottle. I've heard this happens with white wines because it was exposed to cold temperatures after bottling, which causes the tartaric acid in the wine to crystallize and form a solid. This is sometimes done by the winemaker on purpose in a process called cold stabilization in order to reduce the formation of these crystals. It's the type of thing that divides opinion - some people don't want unsightly crystals in their wine, and others look at them as a natural (and welcome) product of the winemakeing process.

This wine is produced under the appelation Bourgogne Aligoté AC. This is a regional AC, meaning that the grapes can come from all over Burgundy, although it says on the label that the wine is made at the Cave de Buxy Co-op and the grapes are grown in the Cote Chalonnaise.

Blason de Bourgogne (Cave de Buxy)
Aligoté 2007
Burgundy, Bourgogne Aligoté AC, France
Waitrose
£6 (£8)
2.5/5