The names Charmes was first mentioned back in 1366, and is a corruption of Chaume, which means land without vegetation. The land is flat with deep soil that grows frank, strong wines that are characterised more by intensity than finesse. The size of the vineyard (at 31 hectares, it's the largest premier cru in Meursault) makes it difficult to generalise, but hazelnuts, butter, peach and vanilla characters are common. Domaine Latour-Giraud owns 50 ares of vines divided between lower (Dessous) and upper (Dessus) Charmes, which produce one bold cuvée.

"Pungent aromas of wood, reduction and a hint of phenolic character render the nose unreadable today. More interesting are the dense, powerful and almost painfully intense larger-scaled flavors that also soak the palate with sappy dry extract that does an excellent job of buffering the firm acid spine shaping the bone-dry, moderately austere and impressively long finale. This is extremely promising." 94 Points. Allen Meadows, Burghound