La Dive Bouteille, An Insane Night of Aligoté, and a Producer Spotlight

Hey guys!

Welcome and thank you again for signing up for our newsletter. Excited to get this started! 📥️ 

For our inaugural post, we’re going to dive into the biggest natural wine fair in the world, give a rundown on a very wild night of Aligoté, and highlight a producer we’re excited about! Hope you enjoy 🍇🍷 

La Dive and the Magical Wine Fair Weekend in the Loire 🎪 

Recapping a weekend of Loire Valley shenanigans

At the beginning of February, I traveled to Saumur in the Loire Valley for La Dive Bouteille, one of the biggest natural wine fairs in the world. For those unfamiliar, this cave-set wine fair is a pilgrimage for natural wine professionals and enthusiasts alike and is arguably one of the most important events in the industry. I posted a recap of the fair last week in case you missed it!

supervinobros

View more on Instagram

While La Dive is the main draw of the weekend, dozens of other fairs (aka salons) take place across the Loire at the same time. I managed to attend three others, each with its own unique vibe.

Some highlights: meeting Jura winemaking legend Julien Labet at Les Pénitentes wine fair, eating the best Croque Monsieur of my life with Action Bronson at Clovis’s Natur-All wine fair, and tasting wine in a proper medieval castle at the C’era Una Volta wine fair.

Seriously, if you ever get the chance to attend, do it! It’s a special experience. And if anyone’s interested, we can put together a “how-to” guide for next year!

An Aligoté night for the ages 🍇 

When people talk about Burgundy, they’re usually referring to two grapes: Pinot Noir for reds and Chardonnay for whites. Since Burgundy is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious, and therefore most expensive, wine regions in the world, many of its wines are sadly out of reach for the average drinker. That’s where Aligoté comes in.

Aligoté is Burgundy’s other white grape. Often playing second fiddle to Chardonnay, it tends to be overshadowed. However, this provides an incredible opportunity to taste Burgundy without your bank account crying out for help. Known for its crisp acidity and bright citrus notes, Aligoté is beginning to see its moment in the spotlight. Several producers are realizing the potential the grape has to produce complex, thought-provoking wines. (If you’re looking for a producer to start your Aligoté journey with, I’d highly recommend Sylvain Pataille)

Now with that context, I need to tell you about this past Thursday. I was invited to what can best be described as an Aligoté study session: 20 bottles, mostly from 2021 and 2022, blind-tasted to see which ones stood out from the rest. The setting was Congee Village, a BYOB Cantonese restaurant in the Lower East Side. The dinner lasted nearly 3 hours and more than a few people were stumbling out of the restaurant by night’s end.

For a grape that I’ve wanted to explore more of, this was the perfect set up. I think a dinner setting/study session like this one is a fantastic way to learn and we’re working on organizing similar ones!

All the bottles we drank are in the photo above. The real standouts were the Arnaud Ente Bourgogne Aligote 2015, the Maison Glandien L'Ouverture Blanc 2022, the Pierre Morey Bourgogne Aligote Cuvee Becky 2021, the Guilbert Gillet Aligote Les Grands Champs 2021, and the Walter Scott Aligote 2021.

Producer Highlight ⭐️ 

One of our favorite parts of wine is the discovery: we’re constantly being put on to new regions, producers, and cuvées from our friends. We’ll never be able to try EVERY wine, but we want to take a moment to mention some producers that excite us!

That’s all for now! Really looking forward to sharing more with you. Going to aim to have these weekly so be on the lookout 🔍️ 

Also if you have any suggestions or feedback for us, let us know! 💡 

Thanks so much for reading along and, as always, drink responsibly 🥂