Bourgogne Aligoté is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

(AOC) for white wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 produced from the Aligoté

Aligoté

Aligoté is a white grape used to make dry white wines in the Burgundy region of France, and which also has significant plantings in much of Eastern Europe including Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria. With , it was the 22nd most planted vine variety in the world in 2004...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 variety in the region of Burgundy

Burgundy wine

Burgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône River, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The AOC was created in 1937.

Approximately 1700 hectares (4,200.8 acre) of Burgundy vineyards were devoted to the production of Bourgogne Aligoté in 2007, and the average annual production over the period 2003-2007 was 107,470 hectoliter.

Production

Bourgogne Aligoté is a regional AOC, which means that the wines can be produced in all of the Burgundy region. Since 1998, there is also a delimited AOC for Aligoté-based wines called Bouzeron

Bouzeron AOC

Bouzeron is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for white wine produced in the communes of Bouzeron and Chassey-le-Camp in the Côte Chalonnaise subregion of Burgundy. Bouzeron wine is produced from the grape variety Aligoté, and Bouzeron AOC is therefore the only communal-level Burgundy appellation...

, which previously was known as Bourgogne Aligoté Bouzeron.

Grapes and wine style

While the primary grape is Aligoté, AOC regulations allow up to 15% Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 to be blended into these wines. The wines tend to be light and acidic in style, and are usually unoaked, in contrast to many of Burgundy's more common and more noted Chardonnay-based white wines. Bourgogne Aligoté is frequently mixed together with Crème de cassis

Crème de cassis

Crème de cassis is a sweet, dark red liqueur that is made from blackcurrants.Several cocktails are made with crème de cassis, including the very popular wine cocktail, kir.-Origin and production:...

 to make kir, a traditional pre-dinner drink.