Meo Camuzet
Die Domaine Méo-Camuzet ist ein Weingut der Spitzenklasse mit Sitz in der Ortschaft Vosne-Romanée in Côte d'Or (Burgund).
Der Name geht auf zwei einflussreiche Männer zurück. Einer davon ist Etienne Camuzet (1867 - 1946), der neben mehreren bedeutenden Weinbergen auch das berühmte Château de Clos de Vougeot kaufte, das er später der „Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin“ schenkte. Der andere ist Jean Méo (ab 1927), ein Neffe von Etienne Camuzet, der das Weingut 1959 erwarb.
Die Weinberge wurden damals von verschiedenen Pächtern betreut und der Wein wurde als Massenware verkauft. Einer dieser Pächter war der legendäre Henri Jayer, der den 1er Cru „Cros Parantoux“ bekannt machte! (Der Vertrag mit dem letzten Pächter endete im Jahr 2007).
1981 wurde aus der Domaine Camuzet die Domaine Méo-Camuzet und die ersten Weine wurden 1983 abgefüllt. Seit 1989 führt Jean-Nicolas Méo, der Sohn von Jean Méo, das Weingut, doch zu Beginn war nicht sicher, ob er in die Fußstapfen seines Vaters treten würde. Doch mit dessen Hilfe und dem aufrichtigen Beistand des bereits erwähnten Henri Jayer begann Jean-Nicolas seine eigenen Methoden der Weinherstellung zu entwickeln.
Die meisten Weinberge werden biologisch bewirtschaftet und die Weine werden in Fässern gereift, die vom Tonnelier François Frères ausgewählt wurden. Das Weingut besitzt heute über fünf Hektar prächtiger Grands Cru Parzellen und acht Hektar Premier Cru, die sich hauptsächlich in Vosne-Romanée und Nuits-Saint-Georges befinden. Im Jahr 2003 gründete Jean-Nicolas zusammen mit seinen Schwestern eine „société de négoce“, bzw. ein Handelsunternehmen, mit dem Namen Méo-Camuzet Frères et Soeurs, um das Weinangebot um einige zugänglichere Varianten zu erweitern und der hohen Nachfrage gerecht zu werden.
Die Spitzenweine des Weinguts Méo-Camuzet sind: Richebourg Grand Cru (0,34 Ha), Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru „Cros Parantoux“ (0,3 Ha) und Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru „Les Brûlées“ (0,72 Ha).
History
The foundations were laid by Étienne Camuzet (1867–1946), a winemaker and professional politician who served as mayor of Vosne-Romanée and deputy for the Côte-d’Or from 1902 to 1932. He even played a decisive role in the French Chamber of Deputies ratifying a law in 1919 permitting the creation of appellations. Being too busy with politics to manage his vineyards himself, he leased them to four farmers, one of whom was the legendary Henri Jayer. In 1920, he purchased Château du Clos des Vougeots and 3 hectares of vineyards in Le Clos, and later, in November 1944, sold the château to the Confrérie des Chevaliers de Tasteven.
When Étienne died in 1946, his daughter Marie Noirot-Camuzet inherited the estate and retained the existing lease agreements. She died in 1959, leaving no children, and bequeathed everything to her nephew Jean Méo, who was working in General de Gaulle’s office at the time. Jean kept the tenants in place for decades, whilst pursuing a career that included managing ELF, France Soir and the Havas agency, as well as serving in the European Parliament and the Paris City Council.
In 1981, the estate was renamed Méo-Camuzet, and the first wines under this name were bottled from the 1983 vintage. In 1984, Jean asked his son Jean-Nicolas, who was then just 20 years old and studying at the ESCP business school in Paris, to take over the management. After completing his studies, which included a stint at the University of Burgundy and a year at the University of Pennsylvania, Jean-Nicolas returned to Vosne-Romanée in 1989. His two mentors were Henri Jayer, who was retiring at the time but keen to share his knowledge, and Christian Forau, the son of one of the estate’s historic tenants, who taught him viticulture. By 2008, all the tenants had retired, and Jean-Nicolas took full charge of managing all the estate’s plots. He also set up the trading company Méo-Camuzet frère et sœurs to produce more accessible wines without competing directly with the domaine. In 2014, he launched Nicolas-Jay, a project to produce Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
Vineyards and terroir
The estate covers 14 hectares, situated on some of Burgundy’s most renowned plots, including six Grand Crus: Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot, Echezeaux, Corton-Clos-Ronier, Corton-Les-Perrières and Corton-La-Vigne-aux-Saints. The Premier Cru plots span Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny and Fixin. There are also several ‘village’ wines and three white wines.
The estate’s vineyards stretch the entire length of the Côte d’Or, from the limestone-clay slopes of Vosne-Romanée—home to some of Burgundy’s most complex soils—down through Nuits-Saint-Georges and up to the Corton hill above Aloxe-Corton. It is precisely thanks to the vast diversity of exposures, altitudes, soil depths and limestone content across these plots that each wine is produced and bottled separately.
The grapes
Almost the entire estate works exclusively with the Pinot Noir variety. The three white wines are made from Chardonnay.
Winemaking
The estate adheres to organic viticultural practices, although it does not hold official certification: only permitted products are used, the soil is ploughed five times a year, and horses are once again employed on difficult plots. Yields are strictly controlled through pruning and green harvesting. All grapes are harvested by hand and sorted on a table in the winery, with 5 to 20% of the harvest being discarded depending on the vintage. The grapes are left for cold maceration at a temperature of around 15°C for three to five days before natural fermentation begins. During fermentation, which lasts two to three weeks, the winery begins with pumping over and ends with punch-down towards the end. Very little sulphur is used, and chaptalisation is kept to a minimum.
The wines are then aged in French oak barrels, with the proportion of new barrels selected to suit the character of each wine rather than the vintage. The average barrel ageing period is seventeen months. Bottling is carried out by gravity without filtration and, in most cases, without fining.
The wines
The range covers the entire Burgundy hierarchy.
At the top are six Grand Crus, the most prestigious of which is Richebourg.
Below these are ten Premier Crus from four communes, followed by village-level wines from Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny and Fixin, comprising one Burgundy red and three whites.
Each plot is vinified and bottled separately, resulting in an exceptionally wide range for an estate covering just 14 hectares.
