Domaine Larue Saint-Aubin 1er Cru 'Les Combes' 2024 (750ml)

In 1946, Guy Larue founded his family's domaine in Gamay, a tiny hamlet in Saint-Aubin that sits just behind the slope of Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet. His son Denis took over in 1976 and was joined by his brother Didier in 1982. Denis's son Bruno came aboard in 2006, adding a third generation to the cellar, and the family still receives visitors at their cellar in the heart of Gamay. Saint-Aubin once made mostly red wine, but the Larues built their name on its white premiers crus, and their holdings are concentrated in the southern part of the appellation, on clay soils rich in limestone. Les Combes takes its name from the small upland valley, or "combe," that opens onto the village of Saint-Aubin. It sits near the border with Puligny-Montrachet at about 240 metres, on red alluvial soil, with a small stream called La Planchotte running through the parcel. The Chardonnay vines here were planted in 1985 at a density of 10,000 per hectare, on a plot of less than half a hectare. With the vines now past forty years old and a cool, stony site, the Larues' 2024 Les Combes carries the purity, tension and limestone-driven minerality that have made this family one of Saint-Aubin's defining names.