2013 Domaine de Baronarques Chardonnay Limoux Blanc Languedoc 750 ml

Premier Cru White Burgundy. Puligny-Montrachet.

Those were our two best guesses as we pondered the golden, lively, mineral-laced white wine in our glasses. And although we sat in the bustling Les Halles Bacalan marketplace in Bordeaux with a slew of local wines on the table, we knew this was no white Bordeaux—its complex apple tones, toasted almond note, perfectly integrated touch of vanilla and spice, and backbone of vibrant acidity had our palates floating over the gentle hills of the Côte de Beaune.

As the cool mineral finish faded on our tongue, our friend revealed the bottle: It was the Rothschild family’s 2013 Domaine de Baronarques Chardonnay from Limoux. We were shocked—not by the regal pedigree, but by the provenance and bottle age. This gorgeous, racy, Burgundian Chardonnay still tasted as fresh as Mediterranean sea spray. 

By the time we finished the bottle over two dozen freshly shucked oysters, we knew we had to share this delectable wine with our Wine Access Chardonnay and Burgundy lovers, and we didn’t leave the table until we’d secured an allocation at an irresistible, fridge-filling 50% off—a village price for a Chardonnay that will have you thinking Premier Cru Puligny all the way. Straight from the cellars of one of the most respected families in the world of wine.

Take a look at the Baron Philippe de Rothschild portfolio—Mouton Rothschild, Château Clerc-Milon, Château d’Armailhac, Opus One, and Chile’s Almaviva—and two things become clear: The Rothschild family seldom ventures outside of the Médoc to make wine. And when they do, it’s only for first-class projects on world-class properties. As California’s Opus One and Chile’s Viña Almaviva (James Suckling’s reigning Wine of the Decade) attest, when the Rothschilds set out to make a wine, they aim to create an icon. 

That’s why it speaks volumes that the family was beguiled by the terroir of Domaine de Baronarques in Limoux, which enjoys a unique position in the normally roasting Languedoc: It’s just 60 miles from the Mediterranean, 240 miles from the Atlantic, and is subject to the cooling effects of both bodies of water. It’s also perched at around 1,000 feet of elevation, which means the property gets tons of cool sunshine. Add in the clay and limestone soils, and you’ve got the formula for a Burgundy rival that could capture the imagination of one of the world’s foremost winemaking families.   

Once the Rothschilds took hold of the estate in 1998, their first order of business was to make no wine. Instead, they assembled an A-team from Mouton and Opus One, and dedicated five years to bringing the estate up to the family’s level of excellence. They also installed a new state-of-the-art cellar, and in 2003, Baronarques made the first wine of this new era. Their first vintage of Chardonnay was in 2009, and from the beginning, the wine was stellar. 

Now, Baronarques consistently produces a Chardonnay overachiever which, if it hailed from Burgundy, would wear a Premier Cru label and fetch twice the price. Today, we’ve got this perfectly cellared white from one of the first families of wine at an absolute steal.