Meo-Camuzet Freres & Soeurs Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Argillas Premier Cru 2018

Meo-Camuzet Frere et Soeurs is the négociant entity of the family domaine, and works closely with local growers to source the best fruit available in some of Burgundy’s finest terroirs. Vines are tended with the same best practices that the family espouses. The Méos oversee vineyard management, and they care for the wines in the cellars with the same attention to detail and respect of terroir that they do those of the domaine. Jean Méo and his wife, Nicole, had three children: Isabelle, Angeline and Jean-Nicolas. In 1984, Jean Méo proposed that his son should take over the reins of the estate. Just 20 years old and a student at ESCP (the Paris business school), Jean-Nicolas had had no preparation to become a winegrower. After eight days considering the proposal, he agreed to give it a try, finished his studies in France (not without making a detour via the University of Burgundy to study oenology) and set off for the USA, at the University of Pennsylvania, finally coming back to live in Vosne-Romanée from 1989 onwards. It was then that he began to immerse himself in the estate, the vineyards, and the winemaking with his father as his mentor, of course, but also Henri Jayer, who was taking retirement but agreed, nonetheless, to share with him his technical know-how and his art of winemaking. Christian Faurois, son and nephew of other historic tenant farmers, taught him about growing vines and passed on to him his passion for the vineyard. Taking advantage of the wind of change which was beginning to blow around the region, Jean-Nicolas expressed his opinions, tried new experiments and succeeded in creating a method, very much his own, which he has never stopped refining. At this time, the sale of wine in bottles with the Méo-Camuzet estate label had already begun (with the 1983 vintage). This was the decision of Jean Méo, who had immediately aimed at a high level of exports, particularly to the USA. Previously, the wines had been sold to négociants in Beaune or Nuits and the few bottles kept for the family carried the Camuzet or Veuve Noirot-Camuzet label marked "Jean Méo, propriétaire à Vosne-Romanée”. Our new winegrower, having graduated from a business school, promoted his wines by creating an international distribution network, and was to be selected by the most famous sommeliers, which explains the unique position enjoyed by Méo-Camuzet in the great restaurants around the world. By 2008, the tenant farmers had all taken retirement and Jean-Nicolas now farmed all of the estate's vineyards. His main difficulty was managing the insufficient supply in a context of increasing demand. At the turn of the century, therefore, he decided, in collaboration with his sisters, to set up a new company: as négociants, they could meet that demand a little better and widen the range in order to take in more affordable wines. Thus was born the Méo-Camuzet Frère & Soeurs company, with its own specific label. Jean-Nicolas' conception of négoce, though, is not the traditional one. Indeed, he buys harvests, on the vine, in Fixin, Marsannay, Bourgogne or other vineyards, but that doesn't mean just buying grapes. Several interventions are carried out during the growing season by the estate's teams, and most of these plots are monitored for several years, which makes it possible to get to know them as well as the grower does. In fact, it's very much like renting land.