2018 Bouchard Aine et Fils Blagny Premier Cru Meursault 750 ml

If we had only seconds to choose just one white wine to rescue from our cellar, there’s a very good chance we’d reach for a Premier Cru Meursault. With no Grand Crus, Premier Crus are the apex expression of the village, and the 2018 Bouchard Blagny Meursault Premier Cru is among the finest we’ve ever encountered for less than $100. 

We discovered this masterpiece, produced by a revered 18th-century estate, at an exclusive blind tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune. Sourced from the hamlet of Blagny, high up on the limestone slopes of the Côte d’Or escarpment, the wine held its own against four-digit bottles from some of the biggest names in Burgundy. The tasting left us transfixed—and impelled us to snap up this bottle for our members.

Winemaker Vincent Bottreau oversees the historic Bouchard winery, which has been assembling one of the greatest collections of properties in Burgundy since the 1700s. Today, Bouchard encompasses dozens of Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards, including the Premier Cru parcels behind today’s 2018 Blagny Meursault.

Grown in thin, well-draining limestone-marl soils that absorb heat and reflect it back on the grapes, this bottle boasts the trademark richness and complexity associated with great Meursault.

If there’s an issue with Burgundy’s magnificent 2018 whites, it’s that they’re really attractive and enjoyable to drink in their youth. These are some of the most ageworthy white wines in the world, but it takes an iron will to put them away in the cellar. The vintage invested bottles like this one with such depth, power, and opulence that not opening it in the short term can feel like skipping Christmas.