Images

Clare Naudin is a wonderful winemaker based in Magny les Villers which is a beautiful village just outside of Beaune in Burgundy.  Last night we tried her Le Clou 34, an unsulphured, unfiltered natural Aligote. The vintage was 2013 and it tasted really fresh with lovely undertones of flowers.  We drank it with a vegetarian pasta dish and it complimented the flavours perfectly.  Despite its historic roots as a classic Burgundian grape, Aligote has become something of a poor relative to Chardonnay in the last fifty years, an outsider grape used mainly as a mixer with cassis, another local brew, to make a kir cocktail.  But young winemakers have been starting to experiment with Aligotes again to make finer wines and it is worth looking out for especially among the bio and natural wine makers in Burgundy.  Aligote offers a chance to connect with the area’s ancient heritage and offers a rustic alternative to the aristocratic Chardonnay.  This is the second bottle of wine I have tried by Clare Naudin, much praised by Alice Feiring amongst others, and it certainly won’t be my last.