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My latest in Winebusiness.com:
Domaine Nicolas-Jay Putting Down Roots in Dundee Hills
by L.M. Archer
Dundee, Ore. – Domaine Nicolas-Jay is putting down roots. After five harvests in the Willamette Valley, Jean-Nicolas Méo and partner Jay Boberg have purchased their own pied à terre in a cozy corner of the northern Dundee Hills.
We’ve been researching and investigating possible sites for Nicolas-Jay for a few years now, but didn’t want to jump the gun,” says former music impresario Boberg. “We now feel we have the market support, and that the time and site are both right for us.”
The project in Oregon also provides Jean-Nicolas Méo, scion of Burgundy’s Domaine Méo-Camuzet, an opportunity to design his own winery for the first time in his lengthy career. While Méo inherited his own family domaine in the village of Vosne-Romanee, part of Burgundy’s prestigious Côte de Nuits, he has had to spearhead two expansions over the years in an effort to address spacial constraints. It’s also the first time in 25 years he’ll plant a vineyard from scratch, this time in the new world.
“There are actually two aspects to [this] project,” says Méo, “It’s building a home, both to welcome visitors, and to make the wine on our very own premises. And, of course, taking advantage of the site to plant. It’s a combination of a recognized area (Dundee), with high potential, and the cooler climate, which is very exciting to us.”
Slated to break ground in summer 2019, the 450-elevation, north-facing site will comprise up to 25 potential acres of organically farmed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir planted to some of the deepest Jory soils in the Willamette Valley. “Although a lot of it is north facing,” says Boberg, “you do have multiple aspects in the vineyard, and three distinct planting sites.”
He also points out that Jean-Nicolas will be able to “orchestrate” high-density planting and clonal selection, which may include some plant material from France. “I want to perhaps try to bring one or two Domaine Méo-Camuzet selections to the States,” confirms Méo, “I’m still investigating whether or not it’s going to be possible, but I’d like to at least start it, and reserve some of that lovely vineyard for that [purpose]. That would be very interesting.” READ MORE HERE.
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