Wine Advisor
Meo Camuzet, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2006
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Description
Meo Camuzet, Clos Vougeot, Grand Cru, Burgundy, France, Still, Red, 2010
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
Meo's 2006 Clos Vougeot – assembled from numerous lots and parcels picked on different dates – features chocolate-covered dark cherries and charred meat. Densely yet finely tannic, and with a formidable sense of underlying extract and incipient complexity, I don't expect this massive, rich wine to epitomize elegance, but I expect it to prove satisfying and impressive in its style over the coming decade. I would plan to give peace and quiet at least until 2011. Jean-Nicolas Meo harvested 2006 fruit between 13.25-14.25% potential alcohol, slightly higher than in 2005. Except for a few instances of vineyards touched by hail, he said, he vinified in essentially the same way (including the same percentages of new barrels) as he had in 2005. Meo notes that the pHs of his 2006s ended up quite high after their malos, and while this contributes to their sense of softness and generosity, I sometimes find these wines wanting for some vivacity or primary juiciness. (I have appended to the description of Meo's negociant bottlings the words "Frere et Soeur" that appear underneath "Meo-Camuzet" on their labels.) Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524. Also a Jean-Marie de Champs Selection (various importers), French fax 011 33 3 80 22 58 25
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Pale to medium ruby colour. Perfumed nose with floral notes of violets beneath a cherry core, complimented by a touch of beetroot. Crisp acidity, soft to medium level of finely grained tannins. Long, earthy finish. Tasted August 2009.
About the Producer
Founded in the early 20th Century by Etie, Méo-Camuzet is one of the figureheads of Vosne-Romanée as well as an old family of the village. Back in 1920, founder Etienne Camuzet acquired 3 hectares of the house's flagship Clos Vougeot as well as the Château itself before donating it to the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. After WWII, the estate came to the management of Jean Méo who had agreements with vintners managing the vineyards and making the wines, the most famous of which was Henri Jayer. In 1983, the estate started to bottle some of its fruits under its own label and the sharecropping agreements eventually came to an end in 1988 when Jean-Nicolas Méo took over the management of the 17.2-hectare property. The meticulous work in the vineyard involves bud pruning in spring, careful trellising to ensure an optimal leaf exposure to sunlight as well as aeration of the bunches and green harvest may be performed if necessary. After harvest bunches are de-stemmed before a 3-5 days cold maceration prior to fermentation. The wines are then matured in oak barrels for 15 to 18 months before bottling. The winemaking aims at preserving the fruit purity to craft smoothly grained, profound wines with complex aromatics and silky textures. In order to ensure the quality acquired in the vineyard and revealed in the cellar is bottled unspoilt, the wines are not filtered. Jean-Nicolas Méo is also involved in a négociant activity which sources and vinifies grapes from vineyards managed by the estate before bottling them under the "Frère & Soeur" label. The attention to detail in the vineyards and the winery is the same as for the estate and allows the family to produce a wider range of appellation in lesser-known Côte de Nuits villages such as Marsannay or Fixin offering a great entry point to the wines of the domaine. Since 2011, this superb portfolio now comprises the first ever Grand Cru white produced by Méo-Camuzet: a Corton-Charlemagne.
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