Wine Advisor
Meo Camuzet, Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Chaumes 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Dark ruby-red. Distinctly more medicinal on the nose than the Boudots, with its black cherry aroma lifted by a minty quality. Densely packed and energetic, conveying a strong impression of acidity but little easy sweetness to the flavors of black cherry, licorice and bitter chocolate. With its salty minerality and youthful tightness, this wine comes across as a bit disjointed, even tough, following the Boudots.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes has a fragrant bouquet with hints of salted licorice filtering through the rather broody dark cherry and raspberry fruit. This needed some coaxing from the glass and felt a little introspective. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannin on the entry, moderate depth, plenty of fresh red berry fruit, but I would be seeking a little more mineralité and terroir expression on the finish. Otherwise this should drink well for 10-12 years.
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.
