2025 Jolie-Laide, Aligoté, Queen of Pentacles, Sonoma County.
Aligoté is quite rare in California, but it is starting to gain a following here and this Jolie-Laide version is a good reason as to why, it is a lovely white wine with crisp detail, subtle aromatics and a fresh lemon/lime and green apple led medium bodied palate. The low alcohol, 11.5%, mineral tones, bitter almond, green melon flesh, wet stone notes and lively acidity are all refreshing elements that make this unique white Burgundy varietal stand out. In its homeland of Burgundy, once thought of as a lesser grape, Aligoté has become a big player with enthusiasts and has seen some remarkable success in the last 20 years, so it is interesting to see it gain popularity here as an alternative to the massive amount of Chardonnays on the market. Winemaker Scott Schultz says his 2025 Aligoté comes from two contrasting Sonoma County sites. One sits high on the northern edge of Sonoma, a northeast-facing vineyard rooted in quartz- and schist-rich soils, bringing brightness, mineral tension, and lift. While ,as he notes,the other comes from a drier, lower-lying site where Aligoté develops a more open, California expression, which marries nicely with the former’s lean nature. For this vintage, the first I’ve tasted, Scott employed a whole-cluster pressing, allowing native yeasts to complete fermentation, with malos, and aged the Aligoté in a combination of concrete egg and neutral puncheons, which gives the wine clarity, a bit of textural feel and invigorating vitality.
As I have noted before, the Jolie-Laide label is Scott Schultz’s almost one-man operation based in a Sebastopol, and has gained a reputation for well made and geeky cool wines in recent years, his cool climate style Syrah wines being nothing short of exceptional, crafted using old school traditional methods. The small lot, hand made, Jolie-Laide wines are authentic efforts and offer loads of class and distinction, all with very clean and transparent profiles. As mentioned in my prior reviews, Scott Schultz, who is widely admired by his peers, moved to Napa from Chicago in 2007 with mostly fine dinning experience in the restaurant business on his resume, which first led him into a position at famous chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro in Napa’s Yountville, where he became head of their wine program. Scott fell in love with California wines and gained winemaking experience while working with Arnot-Roberts and Ryme Cellars, two modern new generation wineries, well known for their quality juice, before he joined Pax Mahle at Windgap and Pax Wine Cellars, one of the most famous Syrah producers we have in California. Thanks again to Alexis Carr, of Revel Wines, who reps Jolie-Laide local to me in Monterey, and Lee Lightfoot, of La Bicyclette in Carmel by the Sea, who generously let me in on a tasting of some new Jolie-Laide releases, including their deep purple/garnet hued North Coast Syrah with its artist “Tarot” label and this ultra pale and delicious Aligoté, with its cool Queen of Pentacles (Tarot card) label too.
($45 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive