2018 Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret Pernand Vergelesses Les Vergelesses Premier Cru Burgundy 750 ml

Few things are as certain as a daily sunrise than perpetual price hikes for great red Burgundy.

That’s why Mongeard-Mugneret’s Pernand Vergelesses Premier Cru Les Vergelesses is such a fabulous buy. Burgundy insiders have long known that the village of Pernand-Vergelesses is where values hide: as Matt Kramer once noted, “the red wine of Pernand-Vergelesses is for the cognoscenti.” Combine that with the fact that this wine is made by a highly respected domaine in Pinot Noir’s holiest village—Vosne-Romanée—and that Les Vergelesses was so respected by Pernand townsfolk that they appended it to their village name in 1922, and you have the hallmarks of superb pedigree. 

While there have been prominent Mongeards in the town of Vosne-Romanée since the 17th century, the modern era of this domaine began after 1945, when Jean Mongeard, whose mother was a Mugneret, replaced his late father in the cellar at the age of 16. During Jean’s 50-year tenure, Mongeard-Mugeret moved from selling wines in barrel to bottling them under their own label. Today, Jean’s son Vincent oversees viticulture and winemaking at the domaine.

The Pernand Vergelesses is harvested by hand from 50-year-old vines, whose small grapes contribute impressive concentration to the finished product. The wine is plush and dense, with a richness that shows through in the sumptuous plum and red cherry flavors that course through the palate. Elegantly structured and bolstered by tea-like tannins,it finishes with a refreshing whip of acidity.