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. It's a soil that is difficult to work and yields “small grapes, like pinot noir”. These older vines are today joined by younger material from the lieux-dits of Croix Rougeot, Côte de Coutance and Côte de la Canne. Goisot’s biodynamic management and commitment to harvesting ripe fruit results in a far more textured and pulpy wine than you might normally associate with this variety. As always, this wine was fermented with native yeasts and raised entirely in tank. From a fine, “ripe and steely” vintage at this address, expect limpid orchard fruits and citrus notes counterbalanced by hints of brine and lees, and a fleck of green herbs. That said, it’s more mineral than fruity in its flavours and there’s a spine of juicy, chalky acidity that runs the length of the palate, finishing with sappy length. Some years ago, Burghound’s Allen Meadows wrote, “No one but no one delivers more quality for the price than Goisot.” This wine typifies what he was talking about.