Let’s get right to it: If you enjoy the style of blue-chip collectibles like Coche-Dury, Arnaud Ente, and Hubert Lamy, then Albert Joly’s “Les Tremblots” is a screaming value right up your alley. This hyper-limited 2018 is as good as Puligny-Montrachet gets, and it comes to us from a new-generation vintner that has whiplashed every single Burgundy-head at SommSelect three years running. 

Mine especially, and not just because it lies a few hundred steps downslope from Bâtard-Montrachet, or because it’s priced comfortably in the double digits. A perfectly sculpted Puligny will always make my shortlist of all-time favorites because it contains wine’s most profound levels of tension, energy, intoxicating perfume, and mineral richness. As for Joly’s 2018 “Les Tremblots” release? It’s an expansive, fully-immersive, multi-textural experience—courtesy of 60-year-old vines and Grand Cru proximity—and a valuable reminder that great white Burgundy has no peer. I’ll never be able to conjure up enough superlatives for this wine, and unfortunately, the same goes for quantity: Joly’s total production in 2018 barely eclipsed 150 cases! As such, we can only offer up to six bottles per customer until our modest allocation disappears. Those seeking to acquire the pinnacle of authentic, high-quality Puligny-Montrachet should stop right here!

Burgundy is full of family dynasties large and small, so while its physical landscape doesn’t change, its wine landscape is always in flux. This is not just a vintage-to-vintage thing, but a generation-to-generation thing; the constant, of course, is the vineyard land. So, while there’s nothing new about the lieu-dit of “Les Tremblots” in Puligny-Montrachet, this stunning 2018 will be a thrilling new discovery for many. That’s why wine importers the world over are forever combing the streets of Burgundy for tiny, impeccable producers like Domaine Albert Joly: Although Sylvie Prevot-Joly only began “estate-bottling” wines from her family’s vines in 2007, she’s already an under-the-radar talent that makes you feel like you just discovered fire!

The main reason so few bottles are available today, by the way, is that very few are made. The entire Joly estate consists of just 4.5 hectares of vineyards, all of them in the commune of Puligny-Montrachet—but not all channeled into her production. Sylvie and her brother-in-law, Gilles, continue to sell more than 80% of their fruit to négociants (merchants), as her father, Albert, had always done. The family’s parcel of “Les Tremblots,” which sits at Puligny’s border with Chassagne-Montrachet, just downslope from Bâtard-Montrachet, contains their oldest vines at approximately 60 years of age. With real estate this valuable, she’s practically obligated to hold back a small amount for proprietary bottling! And so she does, maturing it in a combination of 30% new French barrels for 18 months. She bottles the wine without fining. 

I taste a lot of white Burgundy, from all appellations and price points, but this one had me reliving my first experience with a perfect, $150+ Puligny-Montrachet. It’s exceptionally pure, lifted, and electric, with balanced richness and a freshness that’s nearly unrivaled in the 2018 vintage. In the glass, it shines with a resplendent straw-yellow core with bright green and silver highlights at the rim. Even without a 30-minute decant, it immediately explodes with bounteous perfume in a Burgundy stem: ripe yellow apple skin, salt-preserved Meyer lemon, white peach skin, apricot, lime blossom, citrus zest, crushed stones, acacia, honeysuckle, lees, fresh cream, and hints of baking spice. The richly textured palate displays the profundity and energy one can expect from old-vine fruit grown in proximity to the legendary Montrachet Grand Crus. It’s lush, tense, powerful, and supremely elegant through and through, with finely crushed minerals and tantalizing yellow fruit populating the lengthy finish. Enjoy slowly over several evenings, and cellar your remaining bottles for consumption throughout the next decade. Cheers!