Poor Aligoté—or so we’ve been told. The famously maligned “second” white grape of Burgundy, languishing in the shadow of Chardonnay, Aligoté has endured enough palace intrigue to sell a newsstand’s worth of tabloids. It went from being widely planted in the region to making up just 6 percent of the vines. It was ripped out of the top sites after the phylloxera outbreak, and replaced with Chardonnay. It was excluded from the AOC system installed in the 1930s, while Chardonnay was anointed with premier cru and grand cru classifications. It was soaked with crème de cassis to make a cheap cocktail called kir, which the French embraced as a means of washing down cigarette fumes while sitting out on restaurant terraces. 

These historic indignities have made Aligoté something of a martyr variety in Burgundy. Fortunately, the sob story feels a lot less relevant now. It turns out that being a second-tier grape in the world’s most hallowed wine region is better than being a first-tier grape in most other places, and once Burgundy’s entrenched winemaking talent took a renewed interest in Aligoté in 1990s, it wasn’t long before the grape began to shine. 

It also reminds us that famous royal second fiddles tend to have a lot more fun than their crowned siblings. Princess Margaret. Prince Harry, before he started shilling sad memoirs and chasing Netflix deals. Chardonnay must live up to the expectations that come along with the mythical status of White Burgundy, while Aligoté can more or less cut loose—and star in some of the region’s most of-the-moment wines from unorthodox producers.

There are the Aligotés of Marsannay-based Sylvain Pataille for example, a fixture of Parisian wine bars and a longtime champion of the powerful, terroir-expressive wines that the grape is capable of. Or the no-sulfur Aligotés of up-and-comer Pierre-Henri Rougeot in Meursault, who took over his family’s domaine in 2010 and has since steered the wines in a more progressive direction. Or the biodynamically farmed, intuitively made Aligotés of Pierre Fenals of Maison En Belles Lies in Saint-Aubin, which now produces an additional wine vinified in terracotta vessels. It’s not that Aligoté is excluded from Burgundy’s more traditional winemaking styles, but rather many of its most celebrated examples originate from the region’s iconoclasts, newcomers, and young blood.

“There is often more audacity in the winemaking [of Aligoté] than if you have Chardonnay vines in Corton-Charlemagne, for example, or in Montrachet,” says Benoît Pagot, a winemaker for Domaine Gouffier in the Côte Chalonnaise as well as his own label. “Once you’re dealing with wines where you really have to stand out—beyond what is already out there—the wines experience more innovation, and more risks [are] taken in winemaking.” Pagot himself experiments with atypical methods for some of his Aligotés from grapes sourced from the commune of Sainte-Marie-la-Blanche, such as solera-system aging and fermentation in casks originally used for cognac, rum, and calvados. Or, as he puts it, “winemaking that’s a little bit bizarre.”

Then there are the unique qualities of Aligoté itself, which lend more easily to unconventional wines. “Aligoté is a rustic grape variety, not very susceptible to diseases,” says Richard Angonin, who owns a domaine based in the commune of Remigny.  “The acidity, to a certain extent does not allow the development of certain spoilage microorganisms,” he continues, given the grape what he says is “a natural resistance to microbiological contamination. From there [it] can be used for different types of wines: orange wine, sparkling wine, without sulfur.” Angonin has made an Aligoté pét-nat, and explores two different cuvées in the commune Bouzeron—which is Burgundy’s Aligoté-only appellation: a classic barrel-aged terroir cuvée (Les Bouchines), and a low-intervention blend (Sauvage).

It should be noted that for all of the directions Aligoté can take, there’s high quality to be found in different styles. If “natural” wines can have a reputation for carelessness, then the best natural Aligotés show signs of being made as seriously as any other wine in Burgundy. They have purity and depth, and many would pass undetected among those unaccustomed to natural wines. This is Burgundy after all, where fastidious winemaking prevails, but Aligoté also benefits from a bit of a privileged background. It counts Lalou Bize-Leroy and Aubert de Villaine of Domaine Romanée-Conti among its benefactors, who made their own versions of Aligoté that commanded serious attention in the 1990s, back when Aligoté was still stigmatized for diluted wines of the “lean, mean, and green” variety.

Many of the insights honed during that period still form the basis of great Aligoté today: clone selection (favoring the rounder Aligoté Doré clone, versus the more astringent Aligoté Vert), as well as planting on less fertile land and controlling the yields. From there, Aligoté’s diverse forms are perhaps best embodied by Les Aligoteurs, an association created in Burgundy in 2018 to further support Aligoté production. Angonin and Pagot are both members, and Pagot serves on the board along with Pataille, Laurent Fournier, Nicolas Faure, and Pablo Chevrot. While prospective applicants must submit their wines to an annual tasting to join the group, Les Aligoteurs otherwise has an open spirit, bringing together the likes of Pierre de Benoist of Domaine de Villaine along with young winemakers such as Antoine Lienhardt and Rougeot, new négoces such as Seiichi Saito of Petit-Roy, and even Aligoté producers working outside of Burgundy. This spotlights a perhaps more democratic side to Burgundy, where so much can seem fixed and preordained. 

“Most of the people today who do Aligoté, they know it won’t be their most expensive wine. They do it really for passion,” says Pascaline Lepeltier, the renowned sommelier who’s beverage director and co-owner of Chambers restaurant in Manhattan. “So you have probably even more personality put into the wine [than for Chardonnay], and you have the price point that is more affordable.” She offers a whole spectrum of Aligotés on her list at Chambers, and calls out some bottles that reflect the creativity and care going into Aligoté today: Antoine Lienhardt’s hard-to-find 35 Mois d’Elevage, which ages in barrel for 35 months before bottling, and Alice and Olivier de Moor’s Plantation 1902, which comes from old vines planted in 1902, and is only made in select vintages. She also highlights the wines of the “OGs” like Domaine Derain, a pioneer of organically farmed Aligoté in Saint-Aubin, and of course Pataille—“without him, it would be a very different story.”

At retail shops, prices usually start at about $35 to $50 for the entry-level wines, and increase from there for the more specialty bottlings, or the single-vineyard wines from Bouzeron. But because Aligoté can only be labeled as Bourgogne Aligoté outside of Bouzeron, it resists some of the price hierarchies associated with the various Burgundy villages. This, though, doesn’t stop Charles Lachaux from commanding $700 for his Aligoté made from a tiny parcel in Vosne-Romanée; if you’re familiar with the adage about the only two things that are certain in life, then think about adding the primacy of Burgundian real estate as the third. 

Given its continuous innovations, and its hardiness in the face of rising temperatures, it’s certainly possible that Aligoté in Burgundy could one day rival Chardonnay for white wine prestige. Yet I find myself hoping Aligoté doesn’t completely go in that direction. We’ll know it’s already happened as soon as the bumper stickers start cropping up, urging us to Keep Aligoté Weird.

8 New-School Aligotés to Try

2022 Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Aligoté ($41)

Made of Aligoté Doré plantings in Marsannay, this is a very well-rounded Aligoté that speaks to Pataille’s mastery of the variety. The medium body hovers just perfectly on the palate, and the acidity, while present, is never disruptive or cutting. Soft floral notes like almond blossom on the nose give way to deeper orchard fruit flavors, held in check by a grippy texture. An essential introduction to today’s trending Aligotés.

2021 Antoine Lienhardt Bourgogne Aligoté ($49)

From one of NWR’s top next-generation Burgundy faves, who hails from the village of Comblanchien in the Côte de Nuits. Lienhardt’s natural and biodynamic Aligoté has less immediate acidity, but finds plenty of energy instead in a minerally, tonic core. It’s beautifully balanced by a silky, subtly creamy texture—think almond milk. I can only dream about all of the sole dishes this would pair beautifully with.

2021 Maison En Belles Lies Bourgogne Aligoté ($43)

Pierre Fenals’ origin story is pretty legendary: he was a worker in the garment industry who by chance picked up a copy of Rudolf Steiner’s book on biodynamics—then decamped to Burgundy to make wine. His creations more than live up to his myth, as exemplified by his soaringly gorgeous Aligoté made from grapes farmed in Saint-Aubin. Meticulous winemaking choices are apparent here, as this is a wine where its disparate elements aren’t so much balanced as they are harmoniously integrated. Golden fruits, citrus zest, soft brioche notes, a spray of white flowers and a smear of buttery fat all coexist marvelously.

2021 Domaine Rougeot "Les Plumes" Bourgogne Aligoté ($45)

This zero-sulfur wine from the lieu-dit of Les Plumes in Meursault has a rebellious spirit, in that it eschews fruits and flowers in favor of, well, metals, believe it or not. What might be called “minerality” in a more delicate wine is pushed to the max here for an assertive, lively, and super textural effect. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a whiff of smoke lingering beneath the surface. It takes very precise winemaking to pull this off, and Rougeot did just that.

2021 Claire Naudin “Le Clou 34” Aligoté ($49)

Naudin is one of Burgundy’s early proponents of organic farming and noninterventionist winemaking, and her nonconformist approach extends to her marketing; this wine could be labeled as a “Bourgogne Aligoté,” but she prefers to use a Vin de France designation. Made from old-vine Aligoté from five plots in the southern Côte de Nuits, Le Clou 34’s strength is its subtlety; notes of citrus pith, dried herbs, and ocean spray prevail. Yet the wine is neither sharp nor thin, nor simple.

NV Domaine Derain "Allez Goûtons" Blanc ($35)

Dominique Derain was one of Burgundy’s pioneers of Aligoté, both in his interest in the grape as well as his organic farming and noninterventionist methods. He has handed over some of the operation to his protégés Julien Altaber and Carole Schwab, although he’s still an active figure in the cellar and the general direction of the wines. Allez Goûtons is a pun on Aligoté that also means “let’s taste,” but the essence of this wine is not as irreverent as one might think. Instead it has an ethereal, cloud-like texture, with its acidity gently rolling around the periphery. The flavors are more savory than one would typically expect from Aligoté, recalling almond butter and a touch of bruised apple.

2020 Chanterêves "Bas des Ees" Bourgogne Aligoté ($50)

The husband and wife team Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott of Chanterêves embodies much about the new generation in Burgundy—they began as upstart négoces, and Kuriyama brings a newcomer identity, given her roots in Japan. Their commitment to Aligoté was one of the ways in which they quickly distinguished themselves, and they now make five Aligotés from different plots. Bas des Ees represents a higher-altitude planting from close to the village of Marey-lès-Fussey, so it follows that high acidity is a core feature of the wine, from its initial citrus pucker to its tangy finish. But the nose is intensely inviting, with mouthwatering aromas of pear and golden apple, hinting at the concentration in the wine that ultimately offsets its zip.

2022 Alice and Olivier de Moor "Plantation 1902" Aligoté ($80)

A true stunner from Alice and Olivier de Moor, the happy warriors for natural wines based all the way up in Courgis, on the northwest periphery of the Burgundy designation and far closer to Chablis. Their Plantation 1902 Aligoté is made in the village of Saint-Bris, which is coincidentally the only appellation in Burgundy where Sauvignon Blanc is permitted. This Aligoté has a level of concentration that likely makes it different from any Aligoté you’ve ever tasted. There’s ripe apricot and lemon curd on the palate, and while this stately wine shows something of its historic nature, it is never stuffy or heavy. If you’re looking for an Aligoté to seriously impress, this is it.