Wine Advisor
Meo Camuzet, Richebourg Grand Cru 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Richebourg Grand Cru has a feisty, forward and intense bouquet that maybe does not quite deliver the panache of the Cros Parantoux. It almost feels as if it has to exert itself upon the senses in order to establish its credentials, whereas you would like more effortlessness. The palate is assuredly dense and structured. Certainly, it is one of the more opaque Richebourg wines that I tasted from barrel, though at present I would be seeking a touch more finesse and precision on the sinewy finish to this burly Richebourg. I still expect it to land toward the top of my banded score.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright, dark red-ruby. Heady aromas of black fruits, tart cherry stomp, licorice and violet. Wonderfully plush and fine-grained but medicinal and backward, with its flavors of black fruits, flowers and spices accented by pungent minerality. Very densely packed but even more imploded than the Cros Parantoux and more difficult to taste today. A wine with outstanding intensity and focus, as well as the medicinal reserve for a long evolution in the cellar. Firm tannins are perfectly buffered by strong material.
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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