2017 Comtesse de Chérisey La Genelotte Meursault-Blagny Premier Cru 750 ml

The extraordinary Domaine Comtesse de Chérisey La Genelotte—which has graced tables at London’s four-time “Wine List of the Year” recipient Noble Rot—shows exactly why Chardonnay from Meursault-Blagny belongs alongside the Côte d'Or’s upper-echelon bottles. 

Presenting the same kind of flawless balance and richness that have cemented Meursault legends in four-digit price territory, the 2017 La Genelotte earned the winery’s highest-ever scores from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Vinous. 

Vigneron Laurent Martelet capitalized on a 2017 vintage that Vinous called “a modern classic” with his eagle eye for winemaking minutiae, crafting a standout wine in minuscule quantity. Which is to be expected—for years, Laurent has been making “fantastic white Burgundies that are going to get better and better,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Meursault is unique in that it produces world-famous wines without any Grand Cru sites, and smart buyers know that the area’s Premier Cru vineyards are some of Burgundy’s best. La Genelotte—a monopole of the Martelet family—is right there with them. 

Nestled between the legendary villages of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, it’s easy to miss tiny Blagny on a flyover, but it’s definitely not a place you should overlook. This intimate hamlet’s distinctive microclimate and Premier Cru vineyards within Meursault’s boundaries (like La Genelotte) are “among the most underrated sources for fine white Burgundy in the contemporary Côte de Beaune,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

If you’re still seeking a reason for La Genelotte’s buy-now trajectory, look no further than Laurent Martelet. A philosopher himself, Martelet embodies Aristotle’s quote: “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” He tends the 60-year-old vines with unparalleled care, and can rattle off specific details of past seasons, down to exact dates in the vine cycle. 

The best way to describe the deep respect Martelet has for his vines is in his own words, from his recently-published book: “It is subjected to a whole lot of things, continual injuries its whole life, several times a day and a week, and despite all this suffering, it tries to give us its best—it even welcomes you.”

His in-bottle results speak to the level of tender care he puts in. The 2017 La Genelotte’s complex aromatics might tempt you to simply leave it open on your table all night, enjoying yellow apple, hazelnuts, and toasted vanilla. But start sipping and you’ll forget that notion entirely, as pear, baking spices, and flinty minerality balance on a fresh acidic throughline. This wine has a concentration derived from scrupulous winemaking but still flaunts an air of effortlessness.