Biodynamic. Goisot’s old-vine Aligoté is drawn from parcels of mature vines planted on the high, cool slopes of Saint-Bris. Aligoté is notorious for requiring old vines and suitable soils to produce wines of high quality and Goisot’s holdings nail the brief. The core vineyard is a parcel of 90-year-old Aligoté Dore planted on the high slopes of an old Chardonnay terroir northwest of Saint-Bris. This soil, known as barrémien, is made up of ancient, dense clay littered with blue-grey fossilised oyster shells, several inches long. Then there is a grouping of 45-year-old vines in the lieux-dits of Croix Rougeot, Côte de Coutance and Côte de la Canne, near the Exogyra Virgula vineyard.
Goisot’s biodynamic management and commitment to harvesting ripe, yellow fruit results in a far more textured and pulpy wine than you might typically associate with this variety. Fermented with native yeasts and raised entirely in tank, it’s a benchmark example of Aligoté.