Domaine Boris Champy Bourgogne Aligoté Doré Sélection Massale 2020 (750ml)

 

Domaine Boris Champy Bourgogne

 

Aligoté Doré Sélection Massale 2020

 

The renaissance of an old Burgundian grape variety

 

Varietal:  100% Aligoté Doré.  Aligoté is Burgundy’s “other” white grape, more rarely encountered than Chardonnay; yielding light, citrusy wines. 

 

Appellation:  Bourgogne Aligoté

 

Color:  White

 

Organic Certified Wine (Ecocert)

 

Biodynamic Certified Wine (Demeter)

 

Tasting Notes

 

On the nose, the wine develops a complex aromatic palette which includes citrus fruit, peaches and fresh bread.  The palate is smooth and elegant with a lovely mineral vibrancy.  This is an easy-drinking Aligoté ... but not without some complexity! 

 

Food Pairings

 

Enjoy as an aperitif with friends or try it with a platter of seafood, salmon smoked over beech wood, or dry goat’s cheeses.

 

Aging Potential:  Cellaring: 3-5 years.

 

Wine Making

 

Hand Harvest:  Optimum ripeness. 

 

Vinification:  In stainless steel and 228 oak barrels.

 

Long ageing on lees:  12 months in average, without any new oak, then a few months in stainless steel before bottling.

 

Viticulture

 

Traditional high-density vineyard (10,000 vines per ha with Guyot cane pruning) and lyre (double Guyot pruning)

 

Terroirs

 

We cultivate different plots in the heights of Hautes Cotes above 400 meters in altitude and assemble them to create this wine.  Its complexity comes from the great diversity of soils constituted of marl, clay or lime stone bedrock.  We have the privilege to possess old field selections of “Aligoté Doré” or “Golden Aligoté”.  Therefore the vines are not very productive but have a very nice maturity.  Our old vines give this wine a natural vivacity and fruits aromas.

 

 

Domaine Boris Champy Nantoux Bourgogne

 

A pioneer in biodynamic growing in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune

 

Our Domaine was founded by Didier Montchovet in 1984, when he took out the lease for a tiny 0.5-hectare plot of vines in Nantoux.  From a vigneron family in Nantoux, this young consultant winemaker and wine tasting instructor, worked the vineyards using organic and biodynamic growing methods, listening to and respecting nature.  We are the first wine domaine in Burgundy to have received Demeter biodynamic certification.

 

At a time when people were just starting to re-consider the whole “all chemical” approach, when the concept of terroir and the incalculable value of Burgundy’s Climats were not yet fully appreciated by all, Didier Montchovet was among a small bunch of pioneering producers who were discussing and practicing an eco-friendly and solidarity-driven viticulture that was truly sustainable long before the word became fashionable.  Keen to educate others, they shared their expertise with many other wine estates, both modest and famous, inspiring them to follow this path that respects man in his environment.

 

Over the years, the domaine has expanded its surface area through the purchase of other small plots of vines, but it has retained its roots in Nantoux in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune.  In around 1990, two large plots covering 5 ha, Montagne de Cras and En Bignon, were planted with Lyre-trained vines.  The original vines had been grubbed up in the 1900s after the Phylloxera crisis so the land had never been treated with chemicals!

 

The Domaine’s wines are now being appreciated by an increasing number of customers, both in France and abroad.  In more challenging years when the weather has not been kind, and in order to protect his business, Didier Montchovet buys in certified organic grapes from some of his fellow winegrowers in terroirs such as Volnay.  Boris Champy continues to buy grapes under the name Petit Aigle.

 

Today, the Domaine extends over around 12 ha with two large areas:

 

• The Hautes-Côtes de Beaune with the Montagne de Cras, Le Clou and En Bignon plots

 

• 3 plots quite close to each other: Pommard En Bœuf and two Beaune 1er Crus: Aux Coucherias and Les Vignes Franches

 

We regard our Domaine as a multitude of small islands of biodiversity, with numerous “clos”, which endow each of our wines with its own personality and identity that we only enhance in the most natural way possible during the vinification process.

 

A new name for the estate

 

With the complete vineyard, winery and inventory takeover, Domaine Didier Montchovet is renamed Domaine Boris Champy.  The small négociant activity “Didier Montchovet wines” takes the new name ‘Petit Aigle” in reference to the majesty of Hautes Cotes, the snake eagle.  To be clear for our consumers, the wines will be labelled: for the estate, Domaine Boris Champy (Biodynamic, certified Demeter) and for the micro-négociant Petit Aigle (Organic, certified Ecocert).

 

Boris Champy

 

An audacious and eco-conscious wine producer

 

Born in 1974, Boris Champy is a native of the Champagne region.  An oenologist by training, he started out working at the Dominus Estate in California’s Napa Valley for 10 years.  He later became technical director for a well-known négociant in Beaune, and then estate manager for the famous Clos des Lambrays in Morey-Saint-Denis.  He was also president of the Corton ODG and responsible for the creation of an environmental protection association.  In his private life, Boris is an accomplished triathlete with a passion for history.

 

Thanks to the people he met and worked with over his formative years, he has not only acquired a comprehensive vine-to-wine expertise, but also an entrepreneurial mindset which led him, midway through his life, to create his own domaine.

 

The Hautes-Côtes

 

Boris Champy believes that the Hautes-Côtes has an exciting future ahead of it, particularly thanks to their altitude within the context of global warming.  Together with the neighbouring winegrowers, he is determined to continue building the reputation of the wines from this superb yet little-known winegrowing region.

 

Domaine Boris Champy’s aim is simple: to showcase the lieux-dits and highlight the different microclimates, exposures and other fascinating subtleties.  In the high-lying hills and valleys of the Hautes-Côtes, Boris practices a viticulture that is still somewhat alien to that of the great winegrowing Côte.  The vineyard plots are small islands of biodiversity with numerous clos as well as trees, quickset hedges, meurgers (thick stone walls) and fruit trees…  Boris knows that one must take a holistic approach, that of an agroecological ecosystem, one that is completely eco-friendly.