If you’ve never heard of Aligoté, you’re not alone — but it’s a grape well worth knowing. Originally from Burgundy, Aligoté is the lesser known sibling to Chardonnay. It was often blended with Chardonnay but was not really held in high regard very widely for some time. Fortunately, it has been championed by a number of producers in Burgundy who are focusing on making it is as a single variety. We're now starting to see it get attention outside of Burgundy too.

We grafted a small section of our vineyard to Aligoté in 2015 after getting bud wood from Hickinbotham of Dromana, the first vineyard to plant Aligoté in Australia back in 1985. Now, years later, we’re proud to lead the way with Australia’s largest Aligoté planting, offering wine lovers a rare chance to taste this Burgundian gem grown right here in Victoria.

Our first vintage in the winery was 2017, fermented and aged entirely in old French barriques. Since then we have played with some large format oak and ceramic egg fermentation and ageing vessels.

Currently, apart from the grapes from Dromana, all single variety Aligotés available in Australia come from our vineyard. We love tasting the different approach from each winemaker while seeing a common thread coming through from the vineyard.

As Australian wine drinkers continue to seek out alternative and emerging varieties, Aligoté is one to watch — and we’re proud to be a leading part of that story from our family estate in the King Valley.