A cuvée that appears under the Pierre and Anne Boisson labels, the 2020 Bourgogne Aligoté exhibits aromas of green apple and bread dough, followed by a medium-bodied, blithe and fleshy palate, concluding with a saline finish.

As ever, the inimitable Bernard Boisson presided over my annual tasting in his usual, refreshingly old-school manner, offering splashes from a variety of bottles, some open for several days and some opened for my benefit. As readers will remember, Bernard's holdings have been entirely divided between his son Pierre and daughter Anne. On this visit, Boisson père reiterated that in fact Pierre and Anne operate separately though cooperatively (Pierre taking care of all the tractor work in the vineyards) and vinify in their own way—though the two labels' styles are undeniably more similar than different.

As I've written before, in his day, Bernard Boisson was one of the village's latest harvesters, and his wines only spent a year on the lees, with much of the production sold to the négociants. With Pierre's arrival at the domaine some 15 years ago, that changed dramatically: The domaine has returned, as Bernard puts it, to do things as they were done in his grandfather's era. That means earlier harvesting, little débourbage, long sur lie élevage ranging from 19 to 22 months and restrained use of new oak—up to 30%, largely from Saint-Romain's Tonnellerie Gillet, recognizable for the toasty, nutty patina that it imparts.

The entire production is now bottled without filtration under natural cork. Increasingly, the communal and regional appellations are bottled with lieu-dit names, under either the Anne or the Pierre Boisson label.

Drink 2023 - 2030

William Kelley, Wine Advocate