Poor old aligoté. For decades, this white Burgundian grape variety lurked in the shadows of chardonnay, relegated to those areas considered not quite good enough for the much more famous white grape. Aligoté had a reputation for making rather thin, acidic wines, best turned into the local sparkling Crémant de Bourgogne, or used as a base for the aperitif kir, blended with a shot of the blackcurrant liqueur, crème de cassis. No wonder it accounts for only about 7 per cent of Burgundy’s total vineyard area today.

The grape’s fortunes are changing, however. These days, aligoté is being seen in a whole new light, owing in part to a warming climate, and also to the efforts of some of Burgundy’s finest winemakers.