Athénaïs Bourgogne Aligoté AOC 2023

The Athénaïs Bourgogne Aligoté AOC 2023 is a dry white wine made from pure Aligoté that plays ripeness against freshness. Its color, a fairly deep golden yellow, hints at the ripe tone to come, and the nose delivers on it: a pleasingly lush bouquet of mellow apple, pear, yellow plum and quince, joined by iodine notes, oyster, salted lemon and beeswax. At 12.0% ABV, the wine stays light on its feet.

The grapes come from a partner estate on the Yonne that has farmed organically for a long time and also owns vineyards in Petit Chablis. Behind the wine stands Château de Béru in eastern Chablis, where Athénaïs de Béru farms the vineyards biodynamically: gentle soil work with a horse instead of heavy machinery, cover crops between the rows, and home-made preparations. The winemaker is Gaëlle Ribé.

Aligoté, single-varietal. In the cellar, the principle is minimal intervention: careful selection, gentle pressing, spontaneous fermentation with the vineyard's natural yeasts. The timing of racking and bottling is decided by regular tasting, not by analytical values.

Ripe, partly fresh, partly mellow fruit leads at first, carried by a silky, almost velvety texture. The wine then turns chalkier, fresher and more mineral, with a breath of the sea and an almost steely acidity. The interplay remains in balance throughout.

The label carries the Demeter logo. Château de Béru sits within a Renaissance estate in eastern Chablis; its heart is the Clos Béru, a five-hectare monopole at 300 meters of altitude, enclosed by a wall dating from the 13th century. Athénaïs de Béru has run the estate since 2004.