Domaine Meo Camuzet - Corton Perrieres 2019
Price: $349.96
Sale Price: $309.00
| Producer | Domaine Meo Camuzet |
| Country | France |
| Region | Burgundy |
| Varietal | Pinot Noir |
| Vintage | 2019 |
| Sku | 795083 |
| Size | 750ml |
Corton Les Perrières is one of the six Grand Cru bottlings from Domaine Méo-Camuzet. The vineyard lies just north of Aloxe-Corton in a 0.67-hectare parcel planted in 1953 and 1954, making the vines over 70 years old. The name "Perrières" refers to the stony nature of the site—its soils are littered with round, often pink-colored stones that are said to lend a striking minerality to the wine. Though the soil is relatively deep, its rocky structure persists throughout, and the east-facing slope provides ideal ripening conditions.
Despite Corton’s reputation for firm, austere wines that require long aging, Méo-Camuzet’s Les Perrières shows a more nuanced personality. It opens with a sense of linearity and firmness, but unfolds with a supple underlying structure and a finely mineral-driven finish.
In the cellar, Méo-Camuzet handles the fruit with great precision: hand-harvested bunches are sorted carefully on conveyor belts, with up to 20% of the crop discarded to ensure quality. A cool pre-fermentation maceration of 3–5 days precedes fermentation in temperature-controlled concrete vats, lasting 2–3 weeks. Minimal sulfur is used, and punch-downs are reserved for the latter stages of vinification to avoid excessive extraction. After 17 months of aging in fine-grained new oak and older barrels, the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered entirely by gravity.
Burghound: 92-94 Points
Elegant, pure and airy aromas are comprised by spiced red cherry, plum and hints of warm earth, smoked game and pretty spice wisps. The nicely intense medium-bodied flavors are shaped by polished tannins and excellent verve while displaying good focus on the dusty, muscular, more structured and focused finish where the only reproach is a mild touch of warmth. As is usually the case, there is just a bit more overall depth here compared to its two Corton stablemates.
Wine Advocate: 92-94 Points
Opening in the glass with notes of dark berries, baking chocolate, forest floor and truffle, the 2019 Corton Grand Cru Clos Rognet is medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with a bright core of fruit, powdery structuring tannins and a tightly wound, vibrant profile. This is a touch more introverted than the Perrières out of the gates, but this year the difference in degree of reserve isn't as flagrant as it sometimes is. Jean-Nicolas Méo began picking on September 13, observing that "everything was ripe at once this year," and that alcohol levels—for the most part, around 14%—were a little higher than he would have wished for. Yet the wines in the glass are hard to fault: Méo excelled in 2018, and his 2019s are even more structurally refined and vibrant. As I've written before, Méo's wines see quite a long élevage, and they can often be a little structural and introverted in the fall following the vintage, but these 2019s, just like the 2018s at the same stage last year, were remarkably open for inspection. Displaying superb concentration and mid-palate amplitude without any particular perception of heaviness, I found much to admire; and, in summation, this is a very fine portfolio that, when taken as a set, appears to match or surpass what was achieved here in 2018.
Vinous Media: 92-94 Points
The 2019 Corton Clos Rognet Grand Cru is beautifully defined on the nose of intense black cherries and blueberry fruit; this is sophisticated and succinctly integrated with the oak. The palate is medium-bodied with silky tannins, precise and poised with a fine bead of acidity. Then it shuts up shop toward a finish that feels a bit abrupt at the moment. It deserves 4–6 years in the cellar to reach its plateau.
