2018 Prosper Maufoux Domaine Vigne Au Roy Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits 750 ml

Coaxing this beloved 2018 Prosper Maufoux out of France was no small feat, but we’re immensely glad we managed to pry an allocation out of the estate’s 161-year-old cellars. Because silky brilliance almost never comes at the price it does today—especially from the heart of Burgundy.

Our first introduction to this wine came at a glitzy high-rise affair in Dallas, where a big-name art collector was pouring a few rarities from her storied wine cellar. On the table were more Insta-worthy labels than we could count, including a 1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau and a 2001 Clos Vougeot. Yet it was this seductive ruby number from Prosper Maufoux, poured freely throughout the night, that triggered our deal-making instincts.

Thanks to those instincts, you can unlock an age-worthy gem from one of the most restricted and tightly allocated wine markets in the world. Sourced from the hautes or “high slopes” of Pinot Noir’s spiritual home—the region of Chambolle-Musigny and Vosné-Romanée—the nose shows unmistakable Old World pedigree. Perfumes of dried roses, subtle black cherry, and musky forest floor lead to deepening flavors on the palate, suave and soft as worked leather, layered with spice and dark fruit and underscored by vivid freshness.

When we mentioned to the hostess what a terrific find the 2018 Prosper Maufoux was, she let out a big oil-baroness laugh. “It might cost 1% of everything else we’ve got open—but it’s what I drink every night!”

From a benchmark Burgundy estate founded in 1860, this bottle brings hillside concentration and limestone purity direct from the heart of Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, not far from the great properties of Nuits-Saint-Georges.

44 acres of Pinot vines in the Vigne au Roy vineyard make up this bottle, where topsoil is thin to the point of being almost nonexistent, allowing the clay-limestone soils to absorb warmth and maintain excellent drainage. 2018—one of Burgundy’s hottest and greatest vintages in recent memory—lent powerful muscularity to the site’s natural elegance.

Dislodging this bottle from its native habitat in the north of the Côte d’Or, where it is a fixture of local restaurants and hotels, took all our charm and patience. It paid off with the kind of rare Burgundy opportunity that you absolutely should seize.