2019 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Chambolle-Musigny Burgundy 750 ml

When Romain Taupenot was 12 years old, he camped out on Burgundy’s iconic Route Nationale 74 to help his grandfather sell their family wines.

Today—over 20 years after he took the reins at the Taupenot-Merme estate along with his sister, Virginie—the bottles they once sold from their car to tourists have graced the wine lists at establishments like The French Laundry and Michael Mina’s late, great homage to Burgundy, RN74 in San Francisco and Seattle.

Part of this success is because of the changes that Taupenot made: He converted the estate’s 25 acres (including many Grand and Premier Cru parcels) to organic farming in 2001, and he preached the gospel of his wines globally, gaining the tiny label adoring fans on every continent.

But much of this is due to the changes he resisted. He uses native yeasts, no enzymes, and no additives, eschewing the next-generation instinct to change and outsmart tradition. “I have learned to stay behind my wines,” he says. “I think today that great wines have this ability to surpass themselves in time and that the intervention must be minimalist to guarantee their authenticity.”

Enter the 2019 vintage, one that Stuart Piggott, writing for James Suckling, said “has hit the bullseye” with its “rare combination of excellence and great consistency.”
Chambolle-Musigny is often characterized as soft and perfumed, a wine that appeals to the heart. Vinous called this wine “one of the best damn Chambolle-Musigny Village wines that you will come across in 2019,” and it’s priced in the double digits. It’s the bottle you will show off at your next dinner party—not because everyone has heard of it, but because so few have.