TN: 2006 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne-Aligoté (France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté)

[jal]

• 2006 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne-Aligoté - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté (1/29/2009)
  This is terrific. A nose of citrus and flowers. The wine's color is so pretty, in the glass it reminds me of those wine stores' websites that show a picture of a glass of white wine. On the palate it is focused, refined, vibrant and structured. We had this with veal scalopine with mushrooms. Absolutely delightful.
  
  And now, to burst everyone's bubble - it's $45. Probably, the most expensive Aligote from any producer, ever. Ouch!! (89 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Houndsong]

I was going to say ...

I had an aligote once - by accident. It was "regularly-priced" and I bought it by mistake assuming it was chardonnay because of the big "Bourgogne" on the label. I found it an unfriendly wine.

[Chasse-Spleen]

It was very concientious of them to keep it under $50.
-Chasse

[jal]

I guess you pay for quality and this is better than a lot of Village wines and even some 1er from the big three areas (Puligny, Chassagne, Meursault). I have another bottle and frankly, I think I may just go and buy a couple more. Still, to think that was the price we all used to pay for some awesome Puligny and Chassagne 1ers not that long ago...

[Chasse-Spleen]

Jacques,
I like your sad-faced emoticon. I know I can look this up in a jiffy somewhere but what is aligote? Isn't it a blend of Chardonnay and the aligote grape, or is it all aligote? I'm not knocking the wine, price-wise. I'm sure it's a fantastic example of the wine and style, especially in '06, which I think is a great white vintage in Burgundy. I do find the prices on Leroy a little amusing, somehow (obviously I'm not footing the bill). The bottles/labels are so unassuming, and you hardly ever even hear of someone opening one. What wines do they even make? La Tache? It's that elite. When I first started trying Burgundy, I was lucky enough to get a bottle of the '99 Leroy Bourgogne for around $20. I couldn't understand the wine for the life of me.
-Chris

[jal]

Chris, hi

I got four more bottles of the stuff today from our mutual friend at Zachy's. He says that Leroy uses a superior clone of the grape, maybe that's the reason I found it so appealing. I am not an expert by any means, but I really like the wine. I usually enjoy the simple Leroy's Burgundies, I even had a Leroy Meursault that I loved, but, like you, the expensive offerings leave me baffled.

[Chasse-Spleen]

I guess I wasn't that clear - I've never tried an expensive Leroy bottling. Only the Bourgogne 1999, which in the infancy of my Burgundy obsession, eluded me in terms of understanding. BTW, I really loved your description of the Leroy Aligote, ie that it reminded you of the color or appearance of a glass of white wine on a website in terms of 'this is what a glass of white wine should look like.' I often have the same feeling about a great glass of white wine, especially lately some 2007 white Bordeaux that I've tried, or else some 2005 white Loire wines I've had which are truly excellent. Not that I'm not completely transfixed by 2006 Chablis and white Burgs (don't want to be persecuted by the Burgundy Gods), but I'm having a little bit of a hard time these days finding the stuff. Hey, any thoughts on white Burgs in 2007?
-Chris