Jean-Nicolas Méo speaks his mind!

The "Meeting" section of issue 151 of Bourgogne Aujourd'hui is dedicated to Jean-Nicolas Méo, who in 30 years has made domaine Méo-Camuzet, in Vosne-Romanée, is an international "star". Below are some excerpts from this interview, two-thirds of which you can read in Bourgogne Aujourd'hui.

From the beginning, your story has been closely linked to Henri Jayer (…) What was your relationship like?

I think you could call him a mentor. When I arrived, he told me, "Okay, I'll help you make wine because you don't know anything about it" (laughs). The idea behind it all, no doubt, was that I wasn't going to contradict him. After that, I immediately took to Henri's style of winemaking. In 1989, my first vintage, I did exactly what he told me to do: "You chill, you destem 100%..." He came every day, and in the end, the wines were so good! Henri did everything to make his wines have a luscious, sensual, almost pleasurable quality, and I loved that right away. His credo was that a wine should be good from the moment it's bottled, emphasizing the notion of pleasure, of simply fruit... Exactly! He didn't try to over-intellectualize the tasting and I immediately agreed.

Later, with Christian Faurois, we quickly realized there was a generational gap, and this led us to take initiatives and change things quite rapidly, particularly in vineyard management, yield control, soil work, and cellar practices. The older generations didn't have the same financial and technical resources as we do. Henri started working in 1945 and experienced the difficult post-war years; quality didn't pay as much as it does today. Burgundy wines were already well-known, Richebourg was Richebourg, but prices were nothing like they are now. So, we mustn't criticize what was done in those decades—the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Henri Jayer also destemmed 100% of his grapes. The current trend for whole-cluster fermentation, therefore, hasn't yet taken hold in the winery. Domaine Méo-Camuzet…

No, I tried, but there really is a dichotomy between the intellectual aspect of whole-cluster fermentation and the sensual aspect of destemmed grape fermentation. It took me a long time to appreciate whole-cluster wines, wondering what one could possibly find so appealing about them; well, I understand why some might be drawn to this style of wine. vinification But it's not for me. There are many approximations, unconvincing, thin, somewhat harsh, and lacking finesse wines in Burgundy and even more so abroad where it's also fashionable, but it's also true that some estates do it very well!

Winemaking and oenological techniques must confront a new reality: climate change. Some see it as an opportunity, as it objectively allows for riper grapes than before, while others see it as a threat to the freshness and finesse of Burgundy wines. What do you think?

Looking back, I saw it as a stroke of luck; it did us good. It's clear that Burgundy often suffered from underripe grapes until the late 1980s. That said, without being a climate change denier, we mustn't forget that not so long ago, between 2010 and 2014, we had to chaptalize the wines. Whereas this hasn't been the case at all since 2015; each year, it even seems like the heat is escalating, and we can't help but be concerned. I also note, going back further, that since I started, I've only known one truly poor vintage: 1994; so even if the climate seems to have gone haywire in the last five years, warming has clearly been underway for much longer, and every decade the harvest dates are brought forward by a few days.

You invested a few years ago in a vineyard in Oregon, USA. What exactly is it?

I partnered with an old American friend. The initial idea, back in 2012, was to take over a large existing winery, and I would have been a consultant with a stake in the business; that didn't work out. The project evolved into starting a business based on buying grapes, which is common practice in Oregon. In 2014, we had the opportunity to buy a vineyard that met our needs: only about 5.5 hectares, old vines (for Oregon), planted in 1988, on a slope, with a relatively high density, at a reasonable price: $500,000, which is about €80,000 per hectare; a far cry from land prices in Burgundy. Today, these vines represent about a third of our production, with the other two-thirds coming from purchased grapes. domaine His name is Nicolas-Jay.

Why this investment? Are we bored in Burgundy these days?

It's not boring, but it's a bit frustrating not being able to expand. Buying vineyards in the prestigious appellations has become impossible. And then, as soon as I arrived, I was thrown into the deep end in Burgundy, without any prior experience abroad, and that was also a bit frustrating. Starting in 1999, we began doing some négociant work in Burgundy, which initially broadened my horizons considerably. The négociant business grew, but today it's difficult to go further due to a lack of space and because, for the past few years, négociant prices have become very high; that's good, but some take advantage of this by demanding both stratospheric prices and maximum yields. Quantity, quality, and maximum price aren't always compatible! It's simply not easy these days to find good négociant supplies.

Reference points

1989: Arrival in Burgundy and beginning of the collaboration with Henri Jayer.

1993: Marriage to Nathalie and birth of Adrien.

1996: Birth of Tristan.

1999: A magnificent vintage.

2000: Birth of Séverin.

2003: A vintage that causes a stir.

2008: The domaine has reached its current configuration.

2014: First vintage in Oregon (USA).

2015: A magnificent vintage.

2019: Beginning of transmission to children.

Christophe TUPINIER

Publishing Director