Meo-Camuzet : Echezeaux Grand cru "Les Rouges du Bas" Domaine 2021

Tasting Notes and Characteristics of the Échezeaux Grand Cru "Les Rouges du Bas" 2021 by Méo-Camuzet

Tasting

Color

The wine shows a medium purple hue, neither pale nor overly deep, reflecting a fruit of good maturity and reasonable density.

Nose

On the nose, the wine is still marked in its youth by notes of reduction, wood and background spice, which tend to veil the primary fruit somewhat and call for aeration to fully unfold.

Palate

The palate reveals a rich, round and succulent wine, with an abundance of dry, sappy extract and a taut, muscular frame. The fruit, more expressive here than on the nose, carries through to a long, powerful and robust finish, while the tannins show a touch of dryness at the end, suggesting a wine built for further development.

Food and wine pairings

This Grand Cru pairs beautifully with finely prepared meats, whether roasted or served in sauce, such as beef, lamb or duck, as well as with big game dishes like venison or hare stew. It also shows great affinity with poultry in a creamy mushroom sauce, and, for a more adventurous pairing, with firm-fleshed white fish or a selection of firm cheeses with washed rinds.

Serving and cellaring

The Échezeaux Grand Cru "Les Rouges du Bas" 2021 benefits from being served slightly chilled, around 16-18°C, to preserve its freshness and keep the alcohol in check. Opening the bottle a couple of hours before serving, or decanting it gently, helps dissipate the initial reduction and allows the aromatic complexity to open up fully. This wine shows strong potential for further development with time in the cellar.

A Structured and Age-Worthy Red from the Échezeaux Grand Cru, Burgundy

The Estate

Officially named Méo-Camuzet in 1981, with the first bottlings under this name released from the 1983 vintage, the estate is based in Vosne-Romanée, in the heart of Burgundy's Côte de Nuits. Built on the legacy of Étienne Camuzet and the Méo family, it is led today by Jean-Nicolas Méo, who has directly cultivated all of the estate's vines since 2008. Spanning around 17.2 hectares, including six grand crus such as Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot, Corton and Échezeaux, Méo-Camuzet is recognized for its precise, near-organic viticulture and its hands-off, respectful approach to winemaking.

The Vineyard

The Échezeaux fruit used for "Les Rouges du Bas" comes from a small 44-are plot that, despite its name, sits at the upper limit of the Échezeaux appellation, at a relatively high elevation with an east/southeast exposure. The soil becomes progressively lighter with altitude, favoring good drainage and naturally limiting vine vigor. The vines, originally planted in the late 1940s and about a quarter replanted in the early 2000s, produce small, quickly ripening berries with high sugar levels balanced by good acidity, requiring the fruit to be picked without delay once ripe.

The Vintage

According to the estate, 2021 is a vintage that recalls Burgundies from forty years ago, not for being a cool year, but for its natural finesse and complexity achieved without any biting acidity. The resulting wines are described as already engaging in their youth, showing balance and charm from early on.

Winemaking and aging

The grapes for the Échezeaux Grand Cru "Les Rouges du Bas" 2021 are harvested by hand and sorted on a table before a cold pre-fermentation maceration of three to five days at around 15°C. Fermentation temperatures are carefully monitored to stay below 34-35°C, preserving fruit character while allowing a gentle, moderate extraction. The wine is aged for about seventeen months in a high proportion of new oak, notably from the Bertranges forest, whose medium-fine grain suits the structure of Échezeaux particularly well. After racking and blending a few weeks prior, the wine is bottled by gravity, without fining or filtration.

Grape Varieties

100% pinot noir.