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Lucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018
WhiteFrance2018
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2023-09-13 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
4.0/5 — the same as Vivino's 4.0 average · world avg price US$170 · Les Charmes, the largest premier cru in Meursault.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 2 critic reviews: 93. Vivino shows no critic score.
Market note: Wine-Searcher's last average for the 2018 is from June 2025: US$170 / 750ml (ex-tax). No 2018 sellers appeared in Sep 2026. Other vintages: in-bond six-bottle cases of the 2016 at US$204.11 (UK) to 260 (US pre-arrival) per 750ml, and a single 2023 at US$230.78 in Switzerland (tax incl.).
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“내가 루시앙 르므앙을 진짜 좋아하는게 그 어떤 밭도 퍼포먼스를 진짜 잘 낸다. 누가 먹어도 어. 이거 뭐야 진짜 맛있네. 그런데 그 밭의 특징은 다 나타나. 이렇게. 사견으론 섬세함이나 변화는 좀 무뎌도 진짜 맛있게 만든다. 그래서 좋다. 가격 더 안 올랐음 좋겠다.”
Show original
“내가 루시앙 르므앙을 진짜 좋아하는게 그어떤 밭도 퍼포먼스를 진짜 잘 낸다. 누가 먹어도 어~ 이거 뭐야 진짜 맛있네. 그런데 그밭의 특징은 다 나타나.. 이렇게.. 사견으론 섬세함이나 변화는 좀 무뎌도 진짜 맛있게 만든다. 그래서 좋다. 가격 더 안올랐음 좋겠다.”
In the scent column: 'lemon peel, melted butter, a match — together, popcorn.' Beside it, in small letters: same house, third time, first white.
Thursday. Before handing me a glass, Master Seo pointed at my notebook. 'Third time for this house. Read the first two pages before you drink.' The dentist smell on page thirty-six, the winter sea wind on page forty. Both had been red glasses. Tonight's glass was white.
The first scent was lemon peel. Then melted butter, and, very briefly, the smell of a match just struck. When the butter and the match came together, they turned into popcorn. Not cinema popcorn — popcorn smelled in a kitchen. The mouth of an empty bottle Dad never took out of its paper bag, in September, when I was twenty-five.
Twenty-five, a Wednesday night in the second week of September. Late crickets were singing outside the window. Back from a gathering, Dad set a paper bag on the kitchen table. Inside stood one empty bottle. He opened the bag only as far as the neck and told me to smell. The label stayed inside the bag. When I put my nose to the mouth of the bottle: lemon peel and butter, and a match at the end. I said it smelled of popcorn, and Dad laughed out loud. This house makes any vineyard taste good, he said — and it still shows you the vineyard's face. By the next morning the empty bottle was in the recycling, bag and all. I don't know its name.
In the notebook, that date had three lines. Two had only stars; the last was long. The reason he really liked this house was that it performed well whatever the vineyard. 'Anyone who tastes it goes, huh, what is this, it's really good.' A little blunt in delicacy and evolution, but it makes wine that's truly delicious. That's why he liked it. Four stars. The bottle was Lucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. The same house as pages thirty-six and forty. I folded the corners of all three pages in a row. Probably Dad bothered to bring home the empty bottle because he wanted to hold this house's white under my nose at least once, too.
Master Seo looked at the three folded pages side by side and said just one thing. Meanwhile a message came from Minjae.
After closing, page fifty-one of the new notebook. In the scent column: 'lemon peel, melted butter, a match — together, popcorn.' Beside it, in small letters: same house, third time, first white.
What this wine is
South of the village of Meursault, mid-slope just south of Les Genevrières, lies Les Charmes. At about 31 hectares it is Meursault's largest premier cru. It divides into upper Charmes-Dessus and lower Charmes-Dessous, though most producers simply write 'Les Charmes'. With deep clay over limestone, it is said to give rounder, fruitier wines than shallow-soiled Les Perrières. The most common explanation of the name is the hornbeam tree, charme (Wine with Seth).
This wine was raised by Lucien Le Moine, a négociant founded in Beaune in 1999 by Mounir Saouma and Rotem. It doesn't buy grapes to vinify; it chooses the best barrels of wine that growers have already fermented. About 100 barrels a year, almost one barrel per wine, left on their lees and unmoved until just before bottling (Wine Spectator, Berry Bros. & Rudd). Sources disagree about the barrels: BBR says only new oak, while Wine with Seth, quoted in an earlier piece, says five- to ten-year-old casks.
The story behind the 'monk' name is in my piece on the house's Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 2015, and the story of one of its small premier cru vineyards in the piece on Chambolle-Musigny Les Hauts Doix 2016.
What the world says
The two critic reviews on Wine-Searcher aggregate to 93. Vivino shows no critic score.
On Vivino nine people rated the 2018, all nine in the fours, so no average is published (the distribution works out to 4.0). The label as a whole averages 4.4 from 275. The suggested drinking window is 2022–2032; I drank it near the start.
"Gun smoke and citrus fruit at beginning. Then turned into luxurious bouquet of lime zest, lemon curd, butter, popcorn, caramel, and deluxe sesame oil notes after breathing." — Vivino review, May 2021, 4.5 stars
The keywords run butter (7), oak, caramel and vanilla; minerals, caramel popcorn, gun smoke and honey; citrus, lemon and lime zest; cream and lemon curd. With so few mentions, they're for reference only. Structure shows intensity 3.7, acidity 3.2 and sweetness 1.7.
Wine-Searcher's last average for the 2018 is US$170 / 750ml (ex-tax, Jun 2025). In September 2026 there were no 2018 sellers, and in-bond cases of the 2016 ran US$204–260 per 750ml. Contrary to the wish at the end of my note — that the price wouldn't rise any further — the other vintages now on sale cost more.
How I drank it
September 13, 2023, 4 stars. I logged three lines that day: Drémont Père & Fils Ephémère 014 Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru (4), Faiveley Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2017 (4.5 — 'very strong fruit, and Bienvenues more powerful than Bâtard'), and this one.
I wrote down why I like Lucien Le Moine. It performs well in any vineyard. It makes anyone go 'huh, what is this, it's really good', and still every vineyard's character comes through. In my view it's a little blunt in delicacy and in how it changes over time, but it makes truly delicious wine. That's why I like it, I wrote, and I hoped the price wouldn't rise any further.
From this house I'd earlier given Les Suchots 2015 4.5, Les Hauts Doix 2016 5, the Bourgogne Rouge 2018 4 and the Bourgogne Blanc 2018 4.5. This 4 is on the low side among them, and below both the label's 4.4 average and the critics' 93. Granting the deliciousness while taking half a point off for 'delicacy and evolution' is exactly what I thought of this bottle.
Vivino community data
2018 vintage rating distribution (9 ratings, average 4.0)
| 5★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 4★ | 9 (100%) | |
| 3★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 2★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Oak | 14 | butter 7 · oak 3 · caramel 2 · vanilla 2 |
| Earth & leather | 9 | minerals 3 · caramel popcorn 1 · gun smoke 1 · honey 1 · mushroom 1 |
| Citrus | 4 | citrus 2 · lemon 1 · lime zest 1 |
| Aging & yeast | 3 | cream 1 · lemon curd 1 · oil 1 |
| Bread & nuts | 1 | nutty 1 |
Structure: Acidity 3.2/5 · Intensity 3.7/5 · Sweetness 1.7/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 275 ratings, average 4.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4.4 | 39 |
Other wines Father scored 4.0 →
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Lucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes?
A Chardonnay from Meursault's premier cru Les Charmes, selected barrel by barrel and raised by Lucien Le Moine, a négociant founded in Beaune in 1999. The 2018 has nine Vivino ratings (all in the fours, no published average) and a Wine-Searcher critic aggregate of 93.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's last average for the 2018 is US$170 per 750ml (ex-tax, Jun 2025). No 2018 sellers appeared in Sep 2026; in-bond six-bottle cases of the 2016 were US$204–260 per 750ml.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests shellfish, pasta, rich fish such as salmon, mild soft cheese and cured meats.
What kind of vineyard is Les Charmes in Meursault?
At about 31 hectares it is Meursault's largest premier cru, divided into upper Charmes-Dessus and lower Charmes-Dessous. Its deeper clay is said to give round, fruit-rich wines (Wine with Seth).
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wine Spectator — Haute Couture, Barrel by Barrel
- Berry Bros. & Rudd — Meursault Charmes 1er Cru, Lucien Le Moine
- Wine with Seth — Les Charmes (Meursault)
- Wine-Searcher — 2018 Lucien Le Moine Les Charmes
Read next
Swipe for more →
Same producerLucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016
France · Burgundy★★★★★Same producerLucien Le Moine Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2015
France · Burgundy★★★★½Similar styleDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆Similar styleChâteau La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc 2018
France · Bordeaux★★★★☆Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½Same grape