Ripe purple plum, dark cherry and game scent the Meo-Camuzet 2006 Fixin Clos Du Chapitre Frere et Soeur, which displays the surprisingly soft, lush entry and forward fruit of its village-level counterpart, here with an almost confectionary sweetness, although again finishing not only with interesting suggestions of chalkiness, but also being a bit tripped-up by its tannin. Meo agrees that this gives off mixed signals: the tannins say "wait," but the sheer sweetness of fruit says "drink me now!" I'd side with the fruit, but the result, I suspect, is going to remain a richer rather than a significantly more interesting or refined variation on the corresponding village wine. While a village-level Frere et Soeur Chambolle-Musigny was late-harvested and showed it to a worrisome degree,
Jean-Nicolas Meo harvested 2006 fruit between 13.25-14.25% potential alcohol, slightly higher than in 2005. Except for a few instances of vineyards touched by hail, he said, he vinified in essentially the same way (including the same percentages of new barrels) as he had in 2005. Meo notes that the pHs of his 2006s ended up quite high after their malos, and while this contributes to their sense of softness and generosity, I sometimes find these wines wanting for some vivacity or primary juiciness. (I have appended to the description of Meo's negociant bottlings the words "Frere et Soeur" that appear underneath "Meo-Camuzet" on their labels.)
Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524. Also a Jean-Marie de Champs Selection (various importers), French fax 011 33 3 80 22 58 25