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Maison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
WhiteFrance2002
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2023-05-26 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
5.0/5 — higher than Vivino's 4.1 average · world avg price US$717 · Leroy began in 1868 as a négociant in Auxey-Duresses.
Neither Wine-Searcher nor Vivino shows a critic score.
Market note: World average US$717 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). The 2002 is listed in six-bottle cases by more than twenty merchants in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and elsewhere, at US$613.01 (UK in bond) to 849.48 (US pre-arrival) per 750ml; in Australia it is US$1,244.92 tax incl. Many listings are 'pre-arrival', suggesting a recent release, but I couldn't confirm when it was released.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“울리지 심해서 걱정 많았는데 … 아로마에서 많이 숙성된 복합향이 나서 컨디션은 괜찮아 보였는데 팔렛에서 다들 감탄. 2002년 올드 빈티지라고 얘기하기 어려운 프루티, 에너제틱, 할머니 와인 클라스 다시 한번 느낌. 또 먹고 싶고 생토뱅 밭 다시 봄.”
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“욜리지 심해서 걱정많았는데 […] 아로마에서 많이 숙성된 복합향이 나서 컨디션은 괜찮아보였는데 팔렛에서 다들 감탄... 2002년올빈티지라고 얘기하기 어려운 푸르티, 에너제틱, 할머니 와인 클라스 다시 한번 느낌. 또먹고 싶고 생토뱅 밭 다시 봄..”
In the scent column: 'baked apple, oyster shell, charred lemon, butter — in the order of Dad's voice.' This time I wrote it with my own hand.
Wednesday. Pouring a deep-gold white from a bottle wrapped in cloth, Master Seo said, 'Tonight, don't write. Say it out loud.' I closed my notebook.
I said the scents aloud, one by one. Baked apple. Oyster shell. Lemon lightly charred over a flame. And butter. As I lined up the names in my own voice, the order sounded familiar. It was the list Dad's voice had read out to me, in the same order, over the phone on a May night when I was twenty-four.
Twenty-four, around eleven on a Friday night at the end of May. Dad called. Behind him I could hear glasses clinking and laughter. In a slightly excited voice he said, 'Write this down.' Baked apple, oyster shell, charred lemon, butter. I wrote it word for word on the memo pad stuck to the fridge door. He said this white wine was twenty-one years old and hadn't aged a bit; he'd been worried, but everyone had marvelled at the first sip. Twenty-one. My age the year Dad's notebook began. I wasn't there and never saw the bottle. I don't know its name. The memo stayed on the fridge for a while, and then one day it was gone.
In the notebook, that date had five lines. Four had only stars; the last was long. The wine level in the bottle had dropped a lot and he'd been worried, but the aromas showed mature complexity and it seemed in good condition. On the palate, everyone marvelled. 'Hard to call it an old vintage — fruity, energetic.' He'd felt the class of Grandma's wine once again. Five stars. The bottle was Maison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. Leafing back through the notebook, I found five stars next to the same house's name four more times. Probably Dad called me that night because he needed a hand to write it down. His own hand was holding a glass.
When I asked what 'Grandma's wine' meant, Minjae made a sound before Master Seo could.
After closing, page fifty of the new notebook. In the scent column: 'baked apple, oyster shell, charred lemon, butter — in the order of Dad's voice.' This time I wrote it with my own hand.
What this wine is
In 1868 François Leroy founded a wine merchant, the négociant Maison Leroy, in the Burgundy village of Auxey-Duresses. The business grew under his son Joseph, who in 1942 bought half of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Wikipedia). His granddaughter Lalou Bize-Leroy joined the family business in 1955 and has led it since 1971 (Farr Vintners; Wikipedia dates her arrival as managing director to 1971). In 1988 she bought vineyards of her own and founded Domaine Leroy.
Maison Leroy works slowly. Each year Lalou blind-tastes hundreds of wines and buys only the best. What she buys stays in the cellar until she judges it ready; some bottles are released after twenty or thirty years lying undisturbed since bottling. Every February, people wait to hear which wines will be released that year (Farr Vintners). Among Korean wine lovers, the house's wines are sometimes called 'Grandma's wine', after Lalou herself.
Saint-Aubin sits in a side valley behind Montrachet, west of Chassagne-Montrachet. It has no grand cru, twenty premier cru vineyards, and about three-quarters of its output is white (Wikipedia). Le Charmois is a premier cru between Chassagne and Puligny, near Montrachet, on a southeast-facing slope at 300–350 metres of white, limestone-rich clay (Domaine Pascal Clément).
What the world says
This bottle has no critic score — not on Wine-Searcher, not on Vivino.
Vivino has only ten ratings, so no average is published. The distribution is two fives, seven fours and one three, which works out to about 4.1. The suggested drinking window, 2007–2017, ended six years before I drank it.
"As usual Madamme's wines are truly unique. Oister shell, baked bread, grilled lemon and baked apples. Started off a little reductive but opens up with time." — Vivino review, Dec 2017, 4 stars
There are only a handful of flavour keywords: grilled meat and minerals, baked apple, lemon, burnt sugar and butter, each mentioned once. Structure shows intensity 4.2, acidity 3.3 and sweetness 1.5 — again from just two or three inputs, so for reference only.
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$717 / 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). The 2002 is listed in six-bottle cases by more than twenty merchants, at US$613.01 (UK in bond) to US$849.48 (US pre-arrival) per 750ml. That a twenty-plus-year-old Saint-Aubin premier cru is on the market in such quantity says something about how this house ages its wines.
How I drank it
May 26, 2023, 5 stars. I logged five lines that day: Domaine Roulot Meursault Luchets 2006 (4), Domaine Sylvain Langoureau Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Bas de Vermarain à l'Est 2020 (4.5), Jean-Marc Pillot Santenay Les Champs Claude 2018 (4), Quinta do Noval Colheita Tawny Port 2005 (3), and this one. It's the only one I wrote a note for. There were two Saint-Aubin premiers crus that day.
The level in the bottle had dropped a lot and I was worried, but the aromas showed mature complexity and it seemed in good condition. On the palate, everyone marvelled. For a 2002, it was hard to call it an old vintage, so alive and energetic was the fruit. I felt the class of Grandma's wine again, wrote that I wanted to drink it again, and that I'd looked at Saint-Aubin's vineyards anew.
This isn't the first time I gave this house five stars. In 2021 alone I gave 5 to a Bourgogne Blanc 2016, a Pommard Premier Cru of the same 2002 vintage, a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot 2014 and a Bourgogne Rouge 2014. With no critic score and no published community average, there are hardly any numbers to compare. Five stars for a bottle six years past its suggested window was a score for the surprise of that day — that it was hard to call an old vintage.
Vivino community data
2002 vintage rating distribution (10 ratings, average 4.1)
| 5★ | 2 (20%) | |
| 4★ | 7 (70%) | |
| 3★ | 1 (10%) | |
| 2★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Earth & leather | 2 | grilled meat 1 · minerals 1 |
| Tree fruit | 1 | baked apple 1 |
| Citrus | 1 | lemon 1 |
| Bread & nuts | 1 | burnt sugar 1 |
| Oak | 1 | butter 1 |
Structure: Acidity 3.3/5 · Intensity 4.2/5 · Sweetness 1.5/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 10 ratings, average 4.1)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Maison Leroy Saint-Aubin Le Charmois?
A Chardonnay from Le Charmois, a Saint-Aubin premier cru, selected by the négociant Maison Leroy, founded in 1868. The vineyard lies between Chassagne and Puligny, near Montrachet. Vivino has ten ratings (no published average; about 4.1 from the distribution), and there's no critic score.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$717 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas it appears only in six-bottle cases, at US$613.01 (UK in bond) to 849.48 (US pre-arrival) 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 does it mean when an old wine has heavy 'ullage'?
Ullage is the empty space left in the bottle as wine is lost. Over many years a little wine escapes through the cork, the gap grows, more of the wine touches air, and the risk that it has spoiled rises. This bottle had heavy ullage and I was worried, but it was in good condition.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wikipedia — Domaine Leroy
- Farr Vintners — More about Maison Leroy
- Wikipedia — Saint-Aubin wine
- Domaine Pascal Clément — Saint-Aubin 1er cru Le Charmois
- Wine-Searcher — 2002 Leroy Le Charmois
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France · Burgundy★★★★☆Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½Same grapeFar Niente Chardonnay 2019
United States · Napa★★★★☆Same grape