WTN: Aligote Shmaligote

[Jenise]

So today I saw a bottle of 2004 Michel Lafarge Aligote Raisin Dores on the shelf at the local Piggly Wiggly and bit--this is a grape I've just not been able to make friends with. The aligotes I tried in Burgundy all tasted like cheap French Columbard jug wine. Back on home turf, Jim Dietz poured me one once upon a time that wasn't bad--a Gambal?--but one or two others (including a domestic version--a Steele?) have been as insipid as I remember.

Lafarge is supposed to be one of the best, right?

Nose of sweaty socks. On the palate, more sweaty socks. Finish? Yup, more footwear. I suppose one could mention minerality and sharp acidity but the absence of any fruit for me to wrap my tongue around made cheap French Columbard sound good. To my tastes, it's maderized--old and stale, and not in a good way. I couldn't finish a glass.

So is this a wine I'm just out of synch with, or was it stupid to expect an 04 to be any good?

[David M. Bueker]

Aligote (the little I have tried) is always better as young as possible. It's even better once you put some cassis in it.


Let the geekiest of the geeky now descend on me for my heresy...

While not the geekiest of the geeky, here I come.
I would agree that 99.5% of Aligote is best consumed in a Kir. But both Lafarge versions would generally be in my 0.5% (along with the Coche-D and the de Villaine). The Raisins Dores is generally a bit richer than the regular Aligote.
I don't recall having the '04 RD, but I've generally enjoyed in other vintages. It's generally in a more Chard-ish style than the more lean grassy (i.e. more typically Aligote) regular Lafarge B-A.
This sounds like a flawed bottle to me. Sounds to me like bad storage.

Every wine has its purpose, to a true wine connoisseur. My first taste of Aligote greeted my first step onto French soil, issuing a friendly hello in my hotel room ice box. It was dry and bracing. Almost perfect for the occasion. I felt like I belonged, drinking something like a vin de pays.

French Columbard jug wine, too, I think Taylor specifically, which probably no longer exists, is the most perfect wine in the world from which to make the cream sauce for Chicken Terragon. It has an even more perfect application, too; which, unfortunately, I can not divulge on a public forum.

If you find a wine distasteful, I think it means, unless it is corked or something – and even that has application for learning – that you just have not yet found its métier.

Jenise, how are you at picking up TCA? I mean, what with all that socks and footwear and "no fruit" talk...a possibility?

I've had only one experience with Aligote, but it was a very positive one. Perhaps worth emphasising that it was not French; also that it was not extremely young. But Oregon does seem to work wonders with French whites.

La Bete, Aligote, Walla Walla, Oregon 2003
My first experience with this grape. Sweet nose of citrus and melon. On the palate, citrus, melon, vanilla, and a long finish of citrus zest, grass, and melon. Medium-full in body. Drink in the next year, possibly longer. 87 [03/06]

[Jenise]

Jenise, how are you at picking up TCA? I mean, what with all that socks and footwear and "no fruit" talk...a possibility?

Generally very sensitive, and my first reaction upon putting my nose in the glass was, "Oh crap, it's corked." But with a couple swirls that sharp, weedy, mold smell went away, leaving just that stale, old smell. More likely that it's, as Dale put it, a storage problem--but it could in fact, now that you suggest it, be BOTH. That would explain why it's weirder than either alone.

Hi Jenise,

Please forget everything I said. It's bullcrap. I have been trying to figure out how to participate on this forum after deciding that what interests me is not generally appropriate for discussion; therefore, I am searching for a way to participate by making stuff up that I think is more appropriate. After I write it, though, I sometimes can't figure out what I am saying, because I don't really relate to it. Plus it is not interesting. I will keep trying.

Covert

[Jenise]

Hi Jenise,

Please forget everything I said. It's bullcrap. I have been trying to figure out how to participate on this forum after deciding that what interests me is not generally appropriate for discussion; therefore, I am searching for a way to participate by making stuff up that I think is more appropriate. After I write it, though, I sometimes can't figure out what I am saying, because I don't really relate to it. Plus it is not interesting. I will keep trying.

Covert

Okay, keep trying. But if you're going to go suggest that a wine is good for things you can't mention in public, pick a more believable target than French Columbard, okay?

[quote="David M. Bueker"]Aligote (the little I have tried) is always better as young as possible. It's even better once you put some cassis in it.

Jenise, I agree with the others that this bottle needs to be consumed young. About 6 months ago I also opened up my last of the 2002 aligotes and it was close to what you were describing, maybe not so heavy a smell but it was definitely well beyond its expected lifetime.

Lafarge's are usually pretty good so look for a fresh one and see if it changes your mind.

I have a bottle you might like.

OTOH you might not, but it is arguably Aligote at its' highest level (Kir aside - that can be pleasant). It is Marc de Bourgogne, aka Burgundy Firewater (the denizens of Cognac can rest easy at night - no threats from Burgundy).

There is an Aligote which I found to be a quality white burgundy – Ponsot’s Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Monts Luisants which has over the years been a blend of several grapes: Aligote from the start and then, variously, Pinot Gouges [the albino Pinot Noir] and Chardonnay.

When I had it there was some Chardonnay but it was mainly Aligote but I believe that in recent years it has been 100% Aligote. I cannot say what it is like today but would guess that it isn’t very different from what seemed to me to be a distinguished white burgundy.

It wasn’t my wine or choice and I have never had it since and like any Ponsot wine it was probably pretty expensive but it was good. Has anybody here had the recent 100% Aligote wine?

[Jenise]

I have a bottle you might like.

OTOH you might not, but it is arguably Aligote at its' highest level (Kir aside - that can be pleasant). It is Marc de Bourgogne, aka Burgundy Firewater (the denizens of Cognac can rest easy at night - no threats from Burgundy).

I've never had Marc. Or should I say, a Marc? I'm aware that Marcs are made in Southern France and of course, those wouldn't be from aligote. Actually I know very little about the brew--I thought it's making had something to do with the seeds, etc, leftover from wine making, then distilling it. But I have no idea where I got that, so I am likely wrong.

Next time you come by, I'll introduce you to Marc!
And yes, it is the final use of pomace left from the winemaking process.

[Jenise]

Next time you come by, I'll introduce you to Marc!
And yes, it is the final use of pomace left from the winemaking process.

I'll look forward to it! Btw, great day for garden work, at least down here--beautiful sun, though Pender, Salt Spring and points beyond are shrouded in fog so you might not be enjoying what I am.

Up here in the Great White, the weather is similarly clement, and I am about to take my balls in hand, probably for the last time this season, to defend the Bocce title du jardin.

As my usual partner is away in la Belle France, Coop is standing in and N&D are the loyal opposition.

Wine is chilling, panini are waiting. I'm a lean mean bocce machine, and I'm up to no good!

Bocce fever!!

I've only tried one Aligote wine-the DeMoor-and I did enjoy that. It does almost sound like a bad bottle.