Lot presentation

Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Au Cros Parantoux Méo-Camuzet (Domaine) 1996

The wine

Méo-Camuzet is one of only two domaines (the other is Emmanuel Rouget) to work the Cros Parantoux. Located in the commune of Vosne-Romanée, it took all the ingenuity of the legendary Henry Jayer to clear this parcel, which had been left abandoned. His immediate solution was to dynamite the rock, enabling him to plant vines. The parcel's unusual feature is its northerly orientation, so harvesting is very late. It is a deep, clean, vibrant wine. Contrary to Henri Jayer's precepts, Domaine Méo-Camuzet incorporates a small proportion of stemmed grapes in great vintages when maturity is perfect. An exceptional wine, and one which is always interesting to compare with its Henri Jayer or Emmanuel Rouget counterparts...

About the Producer Domaine Méo-Camuzet

At the beginning of the 20th century Etienne Camuzet, a winegrower at Vosne Romanée and MP for the Côte-d'Or, decided to expand his domain, by purchasing very specific parcels. He was the last person to own Clos de Vougeot before it was taken over by the fellowship of Tastevin. His daughter Maria Noirot left it to Jean Méo whose son, Jean-Nicolas, has been the director since 1989. The aim of the domain is to make wines that combine structure, finesse, concentration and charm. With the help of Henri Jayer, advisor for winemaking and maturing, numerous practices have been put into place to achieve this aim: a strict limit on yields with green harvesting, systematically carried out even with the older vines. The Méo-Camuzet domain continues to exploit the mythical Premier Cru Cros Parantoux in Vosne-Romanée with Emmanuel Rouget, Jayer's last heir. Once the grapes are picked, another selection is made on a sorting conveyor belt and the grapes are then completely de-stalked. The wine is matured in new oak barrels to ensure optimum ageing. Bottling is carried out at the property after roughly 17 months of maturing. The wine is bottled using gravity-flow, without being filtered and, except in a few cases, without fining. The wine is not modified to keep it as pure as possible. It is one of the greatest domains in Burgundy.