Description
The 2020 Bourgogne Aligoté Raisins Dorés is excellent, delivering aromas of pear, freshly baked bread, citrus oil and toasted nuts. Medium to full-bodied, layered and chalky, with tangy acids and a saline finish, it was harvested a month after Lafarge began picking their Pinot Noir.
Frédéric Lafarge isn't given to overstatement, so when he declares 2020 to be "a very great vintage," without hesitation or qualification, it carries some weight. Simply tasting the Lafarge wines, however, without any commentary, would lead any taster to arrive at the same conclusion, as this is another magical portfolio from this Volnay reference point. Beautifully balanced, with vibrant acids, ripe tannins and moderate alcohols, one would never guess that all these reds were picked between August 20 and August 28 (the domaine's Aligoté came in the better part of a month later). Ultimately, time will tell which of the 2018–2019–2020 trio emerges as the most successful at this address (and in all three, the Lafarge family produced some of the wines of the vintage), but all serious Burgundy lovers are going to want a sampling of each in their cellars.