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Appellation · France

Bouzeron

The only village appellation in Burgundy dedicated to Aligoté, the region’s forgotten white grape.

Bouzeron AOCcontinentalcool
What to expect in the glass

Bone-dry, light-bodied, high-acid white with green apple, lemon and a slightly bitter, saline finish. Sharper and less generous than Chardonnay, and excellent with shellfish.

About Bouzeron

Bouzeron is a small village that grows Aligoté seriously, and is the only place in Burgundy with a village appellation for it.

Aligoté is sharper, leaner and less aromatic than Chardonnay, and was for a long time regarded as fit only for mixing with crème de cassis to make a kir. Old-vine Aligoté from good sites is something else — taut, saline and genuinely interesting.

The appellation was granted in 1998, largely through the advocacy of Aubert de Villaine of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who farms here.

What the name means

Legal name
Bouzeron AOC
Type
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protégée (AOC / AOP)
Set by
INAO
Recognised
1998
Regulates
Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.

The delimited area, permitted varieties, maximum yields, minimum alcohol, pruning and training methods, and in many cases minimum ageing. Administered by INAO.

Worth knowing

The only Burgundian village appellation for Aligoté. Elsewhere the variety is confined to the regional Bourgogne Aligoté appellation.

Grapes

Wines from here

white

White Burgundy

Barrel-fermented Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune and Mâconnais — the model every serious oaked Chardonnay in the world is measured against.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Bouzeron is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-FR-A0576, protected at EU level since 1996.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.

The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

White Burgundy

Serve at 10–13°C (lightly chilled).

Try with salmon in a cream sauce, halibut or scallops.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Rully — The northernmost Chalonnaise village, mostly white, and a long-standing centre of Crémant de Bourgogne production.
  • Mercurey — The largest and most serious red appellation of the Côte Chalonnaise, and the obvious step down from the Côte de Beaune.

Sources

Sources consulted