2023 Benjamin Leroux Bourgogne Aligote
2023 Benjamin Leroux Bourgogne Aligote

2023 Benjamin Leroux Bourgogne Aligote

Benjamin Leroux |Burgundy |Aligote
Old-vine Aligoté Doré from Meursault, crafted with Leroux’s trademark precision into one of the most refined and sought-after examples of the variety.
Price:
$99.00
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Description

Benjamin Leroux has always had a soft spot for Aligoté, long before the grape’s current revival. Back in his Comte Armand days he was already championing it, and today he continues to show just how good the variety can be when handled with care. The fruit comes mostly from old vines in Meursault’s Les Belles Roses, planted to the superior Aligoté Doré strain, known for lower yields and more depth of flavour.

For the 2023, Leroux has once again kept things precise but unforced, fermenting and ageing in a mix of seasoned ovals, WineGlobes and stoneware amphora. The result is bright, graceful and layered, without the rustic edges Aligoté sometimes carries. The warm harvest window was neatly dodged thanks to Leroux’s early picking, and what you get in the glass is freshness, energy and a lovely sense of clarity.

Production is, as ever, tiny, and it remains one of the benchmark examples of Aligoté in Burgundy. Those who know the style will appreciate just how fine and pure this is.

Neal Martin

Neal Martin

Vinous 87 Points

The 2023 Bourgogne Aligoté comes from Meursault. It was made one-quarter in WineGlobe, half in foudres and the rest in barrel. It is quite vibrant on the nose with orange blossom and light patisserie scents. The palate is fresh with a subtle orange rind note.

Jasper Morris MW

Jasper Morris MW

Inside Burgundy 87 Points

From Leroux vines. A pale lemon colour. A fine graceful bouquet, without the rusticity of some, really graceful with impressive length. Softer of course than the Aligotés of the past. In bottle end August. Drink from 2025-2027.

Importer's Notes:

Back in his Domaine Comte Armand days, Leroux was one of the first in Burgundy to celebrate old-vine Aligoté. Working with great, old-vine material and super-precise winemaking, this wine remains at the top of the spectrum. The key components are Leroux’s parcel of 50-year-old vines in Meursault’s Les Belles Roses climat. The vine material comes from the high-quality, low-yielding Aligoté Doré cultivar. The 2023 fermented and matured in seasoned 12-hectolitre ovals, with half in glass WineGlobes and stoneware amphora.

The Vintage:

As far as Benjamin Leroux is concerned, 2023 is better than a good year. “It’s a great vintage,” he told us in Beaune earlier this year, “the red and white wines have always tasted well, and I’m sure they will always taste well.” As the great growers tend to do, Leroux made some crucial decisions this year. First of all, he started picking the Côte de Beaune whites on the August 29th, avoiding the unexpected heatwave that arrived on September 4th (the very day most growers had pencilled in to start picking).

Then, he picked the reds in the cool mornings after the canicule had passed, and the grapes immediately went into two large cool rooms installed outside the winery. He was over the moon with the quality, even if it had taken a significant effort to control the yields through de-budding, two green harvests and painstaking sorting. Ultimately, he achieved good yields with impeccable ripeness—most of the wines are below 13.5%.

With his desire to preserve freshness and purity, Leroux now ferments and ages 50% of his white wine in large casks and 50% of his reds (we have included 500 and 600-litre casks in that calculation). He also has an ever-growing stash of WineGlobes—often used in the second year to instil more purity—and stoneware amphora. Leroux is using more and more 456-litre barrels for the top wines, and any new 228-litre pièces used for Pinot are tempered with a white fermentation first. He also uses minimal added sulphur, with meticulous on-site testing as the wine ages.

Extraction for the reds is on the light side—“We can’t plunge three times a day anymore,” he says. The use of bunches is also adapted to each terroir: what works for Les Rugiens doesn’t necessarily work for Les Santenots. As for the quality, the overall standard is exceptionally high, and there are more than a few superstars from this year. The whites, in general, are supple, fleshy and bright, growing in minerality and tension as the wines tighten up in the bottle. Leroux likens them to a slightly more refined and less concentrated version of 2022—he sees impressive length and depth rather than scale and breadth.

If anything, Ben’s reds are even more impressive. Those who know the producer well will already know Leroux’s talent for producing age-worthy wines from a range of terroirs, even in tricky vintages. Twenty-twenty-three wasn’t an easy vintage to ace, and yet Leroux has consistently done so, in every appellation. Despite visiting and working with Leroux for over 15 years, we still don’t know how he does it! For the style of the reds, Leroux sees some similarities with 1999 (not a bad vintages to be compared with!) in that ripening came easily despite the larger crop, and there is no sign of dilution. In a simple generalisation we could say that the reds are loaded with charming fruit and silky structures. It’s a shining year for a grower-producer who does not know how to put a foot wrong.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Aligote
Country France
Region Burgundy
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure DIAM Cork

Benjamin Leroux

Burgundian native Benjamin Leroux is one of the brightest minds and winemaking talents of his generation.

Considered a winemaking prodigy from an early age, Leroux attended the Lycée Viticole in Baune at the tender age of 13. Then, at the age of just 26, he ascended to the roles of manager and winemaker in the famed cellars of Domaine Comte Armand - a remarkable vote of confidence in one so young.

In 2007 he launched his eponymous label to wide critical acclaim. His has been a meteoric rise through the ranks of Burgundy's producers. His incisive modern approach to winemaking combined with his deep knowledge and respect for tradition has seen his small, hand-crafted cuveés coveted by collectors across the world.

These wines speak eloquently of where they come from. A legend in the making, Leroux's wines are some of the most exciting in modern-day Burgundy.

Ben Leroux in his cellar Discover Benjamin Leroux

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