With his poster boy good looks and snappy sense of style, you would be forgiven if you didn’t think Jean-Nicholas Méo as one of the most sought after Pinot Noir winemakers. But, appearances can be deceiving and Domaine Méo-Camuzet, along with its dapper owner, is the thinking person’s red Bourgogne.

Balanced, silky (or “superlative” if you were to listen to Stephen Brook) wines, typical of Nuits St Georges are Méo’s claim to fame. Founded by Étienne Camuzet, a member of the French Parliament from 1902 to 1932, who planted the initial vines, the estate was left to Jean-Nicholas’ father by Etienne’s childless daughter in 1959. However, Méo-Camuzet only began selling under its own label in 1985, with the arrival of Jean-Nicholas (previously the land and its fruit had been leased to sharecropping). Since then, Méo has brought his wine to giddy heights, so much so that he is referred to as the “only real successor to Henri Jayer”, (Jayer, of course being the Godfather of red Bourgogne, as well as the actual Godfather to Jean-Nicholas).

Domaine Méo-Camuzet bottles four Grands Crus (Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot, Corton Clos Rognet, and Échezeaux), ten Premiers Crus (from the communes of Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-St-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny, and Fixin), several village wines, one Bourgogne Rouge, and one white. The Richebourg Grand Cru is often the collector’s favourite among the wines, off the scale in terms of quality, an ageing potential of “forever” and a scarcity that makes it all the more covetable (1,350 bottle annual production). Named as “the Versailles of Pinot Noir”, it held the 43rd place (in 2013) at €3,661 in the world’s 50 top most expensive wines. First place was won by Henri Jayer Richebourg Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, at €23,500. The 2016 Premier Cru, Au Cros Parantoux was in Q1 2019 selling in Europe at €1,500 per bottle and over €2,000 in America and Asia, proving that it doesn’t have to be a Grand Cru to garner grand prices.