2019 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais Blanc 750 ml

It has the ring of a $100 blue-chip bottle: old-vine Chardonnay from southern Burgundy, hailing from the same limestone soil tension that defines the Côte d’Or, fashioned by a 500-year-old estate that’s been showered with critical praise. 

We could be talking about a top Pouilly-Fuissé—the kind you splurge on for a birthday or anniversary. But what we’re actually talking about is Domaine Dupeuble’s diaphanous 2019 Beaujolais Blanc—a rare, largely hidden, micro-production bottling that invites you inside the realm of Chardonnay perfection for an unbelievable price.

When Anthony Lynch, heir to the Kermit Lynch importer business, poured us this wine, we couldn’t believe what we were tasting—here was the shock of discovering a new wine with nuances you simply won’t find elsewhere: wildly aromatic notions of pineapple, apple, lemon zest, a palate loaded with vibrant fruit. White Burg hunters might spend years chasing this quality, and never see it at this value price of $21 per bottle, or $19 per bottle on six or more bottles. We cannot recommend a case buy highly enough.

Grown on just five acres in the sunny, warm commune of Le Breuil, it’s the best of France by way of Napa, bursting with voluptuous ripeness but held back by the coolness and vibrancy of the climate. While unoaked, the creaminess of the texture could easily mislead you into thinking this saw the inside of a very expensive barrel. At the same time, it embodies the Burgundian concept of légèreté, or lightness, almost skimming across the palate.

All this adds up to a supreme drinkability—the kind that makes it impossible to have just one glass. Vinous has called Domaine Dupeuble’s wines “insanely easy to drink,” proposing they “ought to be bottled exclusively in magnums for single-serving portions.”

Noting that the estate is growing its small holdings of Chardonnay to meet rapidly escalating demand, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate writes of Domaine Dupeuble: “Year by year they seem to be attracting more customers and I understand why. There is a brightness to these wines, a sense of joie de vivre.”

This Chardonnay is so versatile and delicious, it’s a shoe-in for the sort of bottle you always want around in the cellar for impromptu dinner parties or company dropping in.

Domaine Dupeuble has been operating continuously since 1512, leveraging property and mastery of terroir into some of the region’s best deals. The family’s dedication to the sustainable principles of lutte raisonnée is rigorous—these ancient vines are never sprayed with chemicals, and the only fertilizer that ever touches their roots is crumbly, black compost.

Severe yield limiting, through both pruning and green harvesting, accomplishes the concentration usually found in Chassagne-Montrachet or Meursault. Natural yeast fermentation and stainless steel draw a thread of purity through this wine that is tantalizing. Admittedly, we’ve set aside a case or two for our own cellars—what’s left will go quickly.