The Sole Village Appellation for Aligoté｜Domaine de Villaine and Bouzeron

While Chardonnay is the grape behind most of Burgundy's white wines, the Côte Chalonnaise in the region's south holds a village-level appellation (AOC) devoted entirely to Aligoté. That appellation is Bouzeron. The path to its recognition is closely tied to a single estate: Domaine de Villaine.

A Village Far from the Famous Vineyards

In 1971, Aubert de Villaine, who served for many years as co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), established Domaine de Villaine with his American-born wife, Pamela. Rather than settling in the Côte de Nuits, home to DRC, they chose Bouzeron, a village surrounded by forest and at the time almost unknown as a wine region. The estate's first harvest followed in 1973.

From a Wine for Kir to a Village-Level AOC

For generations, wine made from Aligoté was used mainly as the base for Kir, the cocktail made with blackcurrant liqueur. Much of the region was planted with the high-yielding, high-acid Aligoté Vert. Domaine de Villaine, by contrast, grows Aligoté Doré, a low-yielding variation with fewer bunches and smaller berries. The estate's Bouzeron is made exclusively from Aligoté Doré.

In 1979, Aligoté wines from Bouzeron were granted their own designation, "Bourgogne Aligoté de Bouzeron," within the regional appellation. Aubert continued to push for promotion to a village-level AOC. In 1997, the INAO, the French body that manages appellations of origin, approved the promotion, and the village-level AOC Bouzeron was officially established by decree in 1998.

Today, Bouzeron is the only village-level AOC in France dedicated solely to Aligoté. Wines made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown in the same village cannot use the Bouzeron name; they are released under regional appellations such as Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise.

Vineyard Practices and Winemaking Philosophy

Domaine de Villaine has practiced organic viticulture, without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, since 1986, and received organic certification from Qualité France in 1997. Some sources state that the estate also practices biodynamic farming, but the certification it has made public is for organic viticulture.

The winemaking behind the domaine's Bouzeron reflects the same aim of bringing the character of the grapes and the vineyard to the fore. Yields are kept roughly 20% below the appellation's permitted limit. The grapes are harvested and sorted by hand and fermented with indigenous yeasts.

No new oak is used. The wine ferments in large casks of 30 to 40 hectolitres and is then aged for about 10 to 12 months.

A Domaine Passed Down to a Nephew

The domaine is now run by Aubert's nephew, Pierre de Benoist. Raised in a family of winegrowers in Sancerre, Pierre has managed the estate since around 2000. From the 2015 vintage, the label changed from "Domaine A. et P. de Villaine" to "Domaine de Villaine."

One of Pierre's decisions concerned the spring frost of 2021, which sharply reduced the estate's harvest of red grapes. In an ordinary vintage, the domaine bottles four separate wines: La Digoine, La Fortune, Mercurey Les Montots and Santenay 1er Cru Passetemps. In 2021, the domaine stopped vinifying these plots separately and brought them together into a single wine, Bourgogne Rouge 2021, released under the broader regional appellation Bourgogne.

In a normal year the four wines together come to roughly 20 barrels; in 2021, production came to just six. Looking back on this work, Pierre has said, "I never want to repeat it."

A Commitment to Place and Variety

The village appellation of Bouzeron was granted not to wines made from Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, but to wines made from Aligoté. Behind it lies the work of the de Villaine family, who chose a village then unknown as a wine region, grew Aligoté Doré and pressed for its promotion to a village-level AOC.

Today, Pierre has taken over the domaine and continues to make the wines of Bouzeron from Aligoté Doré.