2018 Domaine Hubert Bouzereau-Gruere Le Charmois Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Burgundy 750 ml

St.-Aubin used to be the white-Burgundy lover’s secret weapon. 

The village, nestled above Chassagne-Montrachet, was once under the radar to all but insiders, despite the fact that its best wines boast the same striking minerality, beautiful texture, and stunning complexity of their bigger-name—and much more expensive—neighbors.

These days the secret is out, but Bouzerau-Gruère’s 2018 Le Charmois is a powerful reminder why the savviest white-Burgundy buyers still look to Saint-Aubin to get massive bang for their buck. Hailing from a Premier Cru vineyard that adjoins Chassagne’s famous Les Chaumées—where bottles stretch north of $200—this impossible-to-find Bourgogne blanc offers the mineral elegance and grace that define this vaunted land. 

The eighth-generation Bouzereau sisters turn great terroir into great wine as well as anyone. They’re exceptionally talented in their own right, but they still lean on the advice of their father, Hubert, who started the current estate with his wife Marie-France in 1970. 

The Bouzereau family holds less than an acre of the south-facing Charmois parcel, which is one of the best terroirs in Saint-Aubin. Planted between 1972 and 1975, the Chardonnay vines that peek out of the site’s clay-limestone soils give marvelously concentrated berries. After harvest and vinification, the family ages the wine in French oak (up to 25% new) and accentuates its texture through regular lees-stirring.

The result is one of the most stunning two-digit-priced Premiers Crus you can get your hands on, and the decision here is not whether to buy—it’s deciding how many bottles you’ll need for the long haul. Given how irresistible this wine is, err on the generous side.