2023 Paul Pillot, Bourgogne Aligote

Aligoté has spent decades in Chardonnay's shadow in Burgundy, written off as the workhorse grape. Thierry Pillot makes a quiet argument against that. His Bourgogne Aligoté draws from 45-plus-year-old vines split between two sources — parcels in Chassagne-Montrachet and a very rocky site in the village of Remigny — farmed organically and vinified with the same low-intervention approach he applies across the entire domaine. Aged in large, well-used barrels with no new oak.

The 2023 vintage brought freshness and balance across Burgundy, and this wine shows Aligoté at its most compelling — bright citrus, a stony mineral thread, and a saline snap on the finish that makes it impossible to put down. At this level from this address, it drinks well above its appellation.