Chablis Côte de l’Étang 2010
Aligoté Envers des Côtes 2010
According to Clive Coates MW, the 2010 vintage in Chablis was another exciting one with healthy fruit and austere acidities – just perfect material for this style of wine.
The Chardonnay grapes that make your exclusive Chablis Côte de l’Étang come from a small, southwest-facing slope on the winding road between Chablis and Courgis, just above the small pond (étang) from which your wine takes its name. After careful pressing the wine has been matured in temperature-controlled, stainless steel cuves to retain its natural fruit flavours.
Once again, Sébastian has given the wine extra time on the lees in order to obtain a slightly fuller flavour and richness – hence us now offering the wine a little later. The resulting wine is delicious. It has a mix of apple blossom and chalky minerals on the nose and a palate that is tangy and fresh with plenty of citrus and green apple fruit and the classic ‘wet stone’ finish that only Chablis can deliver. Once again it displays excellent balance and purity of fruit and can be drunk now through to 2014.
Chablis is of course a great food-matching wine. It makes a delicious and impressive aperitif, but will match many summer salad dishes and an ocean of seafood such as fruits de mer, delicate fish dishes such as sea bass or, of course, fresh oysters with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Your exclusive Aligoté Envers des Côtes comes from a vineyard planted on the slopes above Chitry-le-Fort many decades ago by Franck and Sébastien’s grandfather. These old vines thrive in the cool continental climate and chalky soils of the region and produce some wonderfully characterful wines. Not all burgundy is about Chardonnay. The humble Aligoté grape is able to deliver surprisingly good wines in the hands of an expert producer. They can be earthy and mineral as well as fresh and vibrant – the essence of burgundy, without the price tag, one could say. Your 2010 vintage is a classic Aligoté, with lip-smacking citrus and stone fruit and lemony acidity. It will be ideal as an aperitif or as an accompaniment to creamy fish dishes – but please note, far too good to dissolve in kir! It is delicious now through to 2013.