2021 Bourgogne Aligoté, Aux Boutiéres, Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Jean Fournier

Moderate reduction presently renders the nose unreadable. Once again, there is fine density and richness to the vibrant flavours that manage to retain good delineation on the lightly stony, very dry and austere finale that is supported by citrus-tinged acidity. In contrast to the prior two wines, this is borderline tannic and mildly rustic.Drink from 2024 onwardsallen_meadows, burghound_com.com (June 2023)

Not ready for bottling, being still on its lees. More complex perhaps than its stablemates, with a generosity of fruit across the palate, a little touch of oak, but also more grip. The stones of the Corton hill showing through, maybe (despite being on the flat)? Excellent.Drink 2024 - 2027Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (December 2022)

The 2021 Bourgogne Aligoté Aux Boutières is a little richer and more exotic on the nose than Fournier’s other Aligotés, lemon verbena, lemon curd and frangipane. The palate is tight and controlled on the entry, gooseberry mixes with green apple and citrus lemon, and livewire on the finish. Superb!“I lost a lot to the frost,” winemaker Laurent Fournier tells me at his winery, “around 50% in Gevrey-Chambertin, but less in Marsannay. There was a large difference depending on the pruning, which I finished on 31 March for plots usually pruned later. Those parcels were a normal crop. All the wines spend one year in barrel, not 18 months as before. I did the same in 2017. I started the harvest on 22 September. I have worked with a laboratory to create our own pieds de cuve [pre-selecting yeasts]. I will bottle…when I find bottles! No, seriously, I expect to bottle in March, though my supplier in Switzerland stopped production to conserve gas. I don’t think it is a vintage for long-term ageing. There is good balance and freshness; the wines are open, so why wait and risk losing freshness.” The most underrated winemaker in the Côte de Nuits? I’d put Fournier up there – what he does with modest holdings often makes me wonder what he’d be capable of with a raft of Grand Crus. Prices remain cheaper than many, and I cannot recommend these wines highly enough.Drink 2024 - 2030Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (January 2023)