Product Information:
Bourgogne Aligoté was a stunning success in 2022. Crystalline precision and great energy. Intense vibrant and super fine with great length and persistence. Featuring a lightly herbal nose and ripe pear. Tightly wound, with piercing freshness with lovely botanical flourishes. Long and tight with steely finish.
This comes from a parcel from Cormot in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune – 55+ year old vines of a type with a slightly rosé skin Aligote d’Oree – also 350L barrels. The only wine with full malo in the range. No stirring on this or as with all his whites.
This release according to Burghound "2022 is the best white Burgundy vintage since 2017 and rivals, if not surpasses, 2014 in quality. Genuinely great wines were made up and down the classification hierarchy and in every commune. Moreover, unlike 2021, quantities are good though not actually generous so there is a reasonable chance that you will be able to find them, a big plus because you will want to find them."
All the wines are made in 350 litre barrels, with crushed and cooled grapes, no settling of the solids after pressing, no lees stirring either, an early and rapid fermentation, then malolactics followed, finished by Christmas. The crushing and long pressing give a more concentrated dry extract. They were worried at the harvest by the relatively high pH levels, but the certainly don’t taste that way. The first two whites and the reds were racked before the harvest, the rest still in barrel. Some will be bottled in February-March, the grander wines June-July. Note that in 2022 almost all the wines are from their own domaine, excepting Corton Charlemagne, Chassagne-Montrachet Baudines and part of the Meursault blend.
Maker:
“This is not just one of the top domaines in the Cote de Beaune in Burgundy, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey is now well recognised as one of the greatest winemakers and domaines in the world. Consistently producing benchmark wines in each vintage.”
Established as one of the young rising stars of Burgundy, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey in 2005 left his family Domaine, Marc Colin, where he gained a solid reputation for his outstanding white wines. Pierre-Yves took control of a share of the family vineyards (Domaine Marc Colin) from 2006 vintage. His first vintages have been made from vineyards and growers that he works closely with buying the wine as must and aging the wines in barrels which he has supplied. If the resulting wines meet his standards the barrels of wine purchased are then matured in his own cold cellar below his house in Chassagne Montrachet.
The Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey estate was born in 2001 from the association of Pierre-Yves Colin (son of Marc) and Caroline Morey (daughter of Jean-Marc). Today they operate 13 hectares in the villages of Saint-Aubin, Chassagne-Montrachet, Santenay, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault. Their production consists of 92% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Noir and 3% of Aligoté grape variety. Working about 2 hectares from the family heritage, the other plots have come from different acquisitions over the last fifteen years, as well as a few plots in Fermages.
Philosophy:
The Chassagne vineyard dates back to the years 280 AD. Historically, the vineyards of Chassagne were mainly planted with Pinot Noir; the Grands Crus and some other plots were white (Chardonnay grape). In 1935, the INAO was created and set itself the task of defining appellations in order to ensure their quality and enhance them. It was also at this time that the Grands Crus of the Montrachet hill were delimited.
The vineyard is located between 220 and 340 meters altitude on clay-limestone soils. Most of the hillside vines are based on Jurassic lands (-201 million to -145 million years old). Descending towards the plain, the soils are more recent, dating from the Quaternary (2 million years ago) and come from the erosion of the upper layers. Since the 1990s, the village has seen its proportion of vines planted with Pinot noir decrease in favour of vines planted with Chardonnay. Today, the village is world famous and renowned for its white wines, particularly thanks to the Grands Crus of Montrachet.
Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey white wines are whole bunch pressed and fermented with native yeast. Ageing up to 16 months for Bourgognes, St Aubins and more than 18 months for top end white wines with no lees stirring in a very cool cellar. The red wines get partial whole-bunch ferments (about 30%) with very gentle pumping over and gentle vinification designed to maximise freshness and finesse. Long untreated corks for most wines and bottles sealed with wax. The resulting wines are built to age classically up to 10 years or more.
Nose - Granny Smith Apples, Nectarine, Tarragon
Pronounced aromas of nectarine and gooseberry with accents of tarragon, fresh-cut grass and honeycomb.
Palate - Lemon Twist, Bright, Chiselled Texture
The texture is lively and chiselled, with fresh acidity but enough extract to give the wine real weight.
Finish - Saline, Honeycomb, Brine
A pleasant twist of sour lemon, bright and saline on the finish.
The 2022 Bourgogne Aligoté, 55% from the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune and the rest from Chassagne picked simultaneously, was taken directly from stainless steel tanks. It has a clean and fresh Granny Smith and pear-scented nose. The palate is quite edgy on the entry with a pleasant twist of sour lemon, bright and saline on the finish. Enjoy this over the next five or six years - there's plenty of energy here. - Neal Martin, Vinous.
This expressive Aligoté has pronounced aromas of nectarine and gooseberry with accents of tarragon, fresh-cut grass and honeycomb. The texture is lively and chiselled, with fresh acidity but enough extract to give the wine real weight. The fruit has two sources: 80% is from 80-year-old vines he owns in the lieu-dit Au Bout du Monde in the Hautes-Côtes, and the balance is from Chassagne. He uses the same system as the Bourgogne Chardonnay: 350-litre casks, 10% new, no lees stirring; the wine will be bottled in February 2024. - Decanter
The Finer Details
Style - White Wine
Varietal - Aligote
Country - France
Region - Burgundy
Vintage - 2022
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 12%
