Bourgogne Aligoté Les Auvonnes au Pépé 2023 Domaine Sylvain Pataille

The Bourgogne Aligoté Les Auvonnes au Pépé 2023 from Domaine Sylvain Pataille is one of Burgundy's most precious and moving bottles, produced in only 25 cases annually. The master of Aligoté has struck again with this 2023, even more complete than its predecessor. An Aligoté with considerable potential, beautifully realised: chalky mineral, green lemon, iodine and warm brioche. The palate is round and fleshy, animated by striking minerality. A great saline finish. This wine proves with clarity that Aligoté, for too long relegated to the role of Burgundy's poor relation, can reach summits of absolute nobility and complexity in the right hands.

History and terroir

Les Auvonnes au Pépé comes from Aligoté vines planted in 1930 on the lieu-dit Aux Avoines in Marsannay. These near-centenarian vines belonged to Sylvain's grandfather, hence the term Pépé in the cuvée name. As for Auvonnes, it is the Burgundian patois name for the lieu-dit Avoine, a place once devoted to oat cultivation. This tiny 0.1 hectare vineyard faces due east at 250 metres altitude in Marsannay-la-Côte. The terroir consists of alluvial gravels deposited during the last Quaternary glaciation 20,000 years ago: gravel, pebbles and boulders resting on argillaceous marls and limestone rock, with red clays at the surface. This particular substrate, which Sylvain Pataille regards with absolute admiration, imparts a reductive minerality of rare beauty to the wine. Sylvain finds the minerality so fine that he considers it would be a shame to produce red wine here. Viticulture is certified organic and conducted biodynamically. Winemaking is precise and minimalist: vertical press, fermentation with indigenous yeasts, 12 months ageing in experimental barrels and 500 litre demi-muids to minimise oxidation compared to standard barrels, sulphur additions only at bottling.

Tasting profile

The 2023 presents fresh and vibrant aromas. Green lemon thyme, pear and white peach open in the glass, joined by notes of fresh brioche and butter mingling with damp chalk and an iodine note. The whole picture is precise and luminous. On the palate, the wine shows incredible purity, with perfect balance between the softness of the material and the rigour of the acid backbone. Tension animates flavours of mandarin, white peach and honeysuckle. The delicately buttery persistence gradually gives way to finely chalky texture, lingering on a vibrant saline finish. What makes this wine so distinctive is the salivating salinity of the finish, a character that marks this cuvée vintage after vintage.

The domaine

In 1999, Sylvain Pataille, an oenologist trained in Bordeaux, founded his domaine in Marsannay-la-Côte with just one hectare of rented vines. Today his vineyard extends to 17 hectares. A tireless advocate for the terroirs of Marsannay, an appellation created in 1987 and one of whose most determined architects he remains, he is also recognised as the vigneron who restored Burgundian Aligoté to its proper nobility. His biodynamic practices, deliberately limited yields and minimal cellar intervention produce wines of consistent delicacy and precision, unanimously praised by international critics.

Food pairings

Pan-fried girolles with green asparagus, toasted cashew fragments, Mediterranean style. This Bourgogne Aligoté also pairs beautifully with gratin oysters, crab salad with citrus, asparagus risotto, wild mushrooms in cream sauce or poached chicken suprême with spices. Served between 10 and 12 °C, it will reveal all the mineral purity, vibrant salinity and complexity of an Aligoté from near-centenarian old vines that single-handedly transforms the image of its grape variety.