2017 Xavier Monnot Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes Burgundy France 750 ml

Want to pick a fight with a Burgundy lover? Give them a taste of this 96-point, Decanter Gold Medal award-winning, drop-dead gorgeous 2017 Xavier Monnot Les Charmes and try to tell them that Meursault doesn’t deserve at least one Grand Cru vineyard. It’s the subject of some real controversy, but we’ll get to that.

Tasted blind, it would be hard for even the most practiced sommelier to differentiate this striking Premier Cru Chardonnay from Grand Cru gold. Decanter (who already designated Monnot’s 2017 as “gold”) said it best, describing it as “luxuriously powerful with complex layers” and “silky, classic and understated” with “great intensity and presence.” 

Indeed, classic lemon peel, green apple and Bosc pear notes are subtly perfumed with white florals and a smoky hint of struck matchstick for added complexity. The svelte palate is defined by a crisp mineral edge, keeping the wine feeling youthful and pure, though it promises to gain fleshiness and volume the longer you hold onto it. We wouldn’t be able to wait though. And at this price, we don’t have to.  

In Burgundy, “Grand Cru” and “Premier Cru” can mean the difference between a $500+ bottle and $100 bottle, but in Meursault, there are only Premier Cru sites and village-level vineyards. Luckily, we don’t need a designation to tell us what top-notch quality tastes like—we’d rather keep 2017 Xavier Monnot Les Charmes hidden from the “Grands Crus only” collector types so we can keep it all to ourselves, priced just as it is. 

Hailing from the Les Charmes Premier Cru vineyard in Meursault—the storied Côte de Beaune village sandwiched between Puligny-Montrachet and Volnay—the three-acre site is prized by top producers like Domaine des Comtes Lafon, whose own Les Charmes averages $321. 

On to the controversy. 

The best sites in Meursault begin in the western slopes just outside the town, and continue up into steeper hillsides, where shallow soils encourage vigor and vines turn out citrus-driven, gorgeous, racy whites. Gone are the days of the buttery, flashy Premier Cru Meursault, and while Monnot’s limestone soils and 40-60-year-old vines yield a broad, rich, and intensely mineral style (courtesy of tiny berries with excellent concentration), this rendition is sleek and taut, with dazzling spices courtesy of aging 12-14 months in roughly one-third new French oak.  

Critics the world over often find “grand cru-like quality,” among Premier Cru Meursault bottlings. And American-based sommeliers love to argue in favor of a Grand Cru designation for Meursault, typically pointing to Charmes as a prime example. Our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero  argues that Les Charmes is “the site that would make the top of the list during a re-classification.” 

But for now, the real issue facing lovers of white Burgundy from Meursault is the market demand for affordable Burgundy, especially considering vintages like 2017, which alone ushered in what’s being called “the golden age of Burgundy” by major critics. And the few white Burgundies we’ve offered have proven explosively popular with Wine Access members—all of them selling out in less than a day. So, rest assured that demand will be high for this Monnot.

Burgundy collectors, Chardonnay lovers, and really anyone interested in beautifully made wine from the storied village of Meursault should take advantage of this incredible value on 2017 Xavier Monnot Les Charmes—all the trappings of a Grand Cru, without the trappings of the corresponding price tag.