Here every single sip developed into a rarity: at an auction in Geneva, 1064 bottles of wine by the French winemaker Henri Jayer were auctioned for 30 million euros. That was about 28,195 euros per bottle. The noble wines come from the private wine cellar of the star winegrower, who is revered by connoisseurs as the "king of Pinot Noir". His wines are still in high demand and known for their balance and elegance. In recent years, a veritable price explosion developed. The fine wines are extremely expensive wines, of which a bottle is traded with thousands of dollars.
Henri Jayer was a French winemaker, to whom some important innovations of the Burgundian wine production are attributed. He became well known for the quality of his Pinot Noir. Jayer was born in Vosne-Romanée in 1922 and attended the University of Dijon. In the 1940s, he graduated with a degree in ecology. In the 1950s he started on a 3-hectare inherited area with the production of a wine under his own label. Fallow plots of the vineyards of Echezeaux and Beaux-Monts served as the basis for a great success story. This began by building his own legacy and introducing more revolutionary methods of wine making. The result was particularly high-quality wines from Burgundy. Over a period of about 50 years, Jayer gradually succeeded in building up his own and at the same time unique success story.
After the end of the Second World War, Jayer concluded an agreement with Madame Noirot-Camuzet, through which he took over the entire administration of the winery and received half of the harvest. He continued for the winery Camuzet, but began in 1951 with the production of wines from Burgundy under his own label. Gradually, he acquired more land for his own winemaking and became the owner of some vineyard areas.
In 1996, even the French government forced him to retire prematurely. He therefore transferred his vineyards to his nephew, Emmanuel Rouget. Jayer himself continued to work in wine making until he retired in 2001. His methods and a unique concept are still considered pioneering achievements today. Jayer was the one who changed the segment of luxury wines and is still remembered today among wine connoisseurs. Died in 2008, Jayer will always be associated with high-priced drops.
He became well known for his wines from the Vosne-Romanée Cros-Parantoux, a vineyard that covered just 1.01 hectares. This vineyard is located in Vosne Romanee above the famous Grand Cru vineyard Richebourg. Since the bottom of this vineyard consisted only of a thin clay limestone layer, which was still on a rock bed, he was only poorly suited for wine growing. The vineyard in Vosne Romanee also had a bad reputation and was considered very labor intensive. These conditions were used by Jayer for the production of a natural wine with a fresh acid content. The owner of the vineyard, Madame Noirot-Camuzet, put him at the disposal of Jayer. In 1978, in the Grand Cru vineyard Richebourg produced his first own Cros-Parantoux wines.
Jayer gained great recognition for his excellent production methods of Pinot Noir. The growth of weeds was controlled not by chemistry but by plowing. After the harvest of the wine, this was not filtered, which is why all the drops produced by him with the addition "Ce vin n'a pas ete filtre" - the wine is not filtered, was printed. All wines were always destemmed, which prevented that contained in the grape stalk tannins enter the wine. Jayer is also credited with the "cold maceration" in which grapes are dammed and bottled before fermentation.
Of all the wines Jayer produces only a limited amount of about 3,500 bottles per year. The result was a price explosion, which is why wine lovers today have to shell out about $ 10,000 for a single bottle of the 2001 Jayer Vosne-Romanée Cros-Parantoux.
Jayers vintages begin in the late 1950s and extend to the beginning of 2000. The Grand Cru Lage Richebourg, however, was last produced in the year 1987, then the harvest went to the Domaine Meo Camuzet. According to him, 1959, 1971, 1978, 1980, 1985 and 1986 were the best vintages of all. In view of the rarity at all, however, each individual vintage is already a rarity in itself, which is not without reason attributed to the category "expensive wines". So the vineyards Echezeaux and Richebourg will always stay connected with Jayer. Died in 2008, he will forever be remembered and one of the great personalities who wrote Wines history.
The 1993 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux from Henri Jayer is one of those dreamlike wines you only encounter once in a while. There is a magnificent intensity to this Pinot Noir that possesses such transparency and delineation, you do not know what to do with yourself except smile. So perfumed! Mulberry dallies with red berries, a faint scent of black truffle and iris. The palate is smooth and sensual. Before I knew its identity, I suggested it might be from Lalou Bize-Leroy. Silky to the touch, the texture is so supple that it belies that structure underneath. Then the wave of minerals wash over you on the long finish, a coda of tart red cherries lingering in the mouth. Even God did not anticipate such Pinot Noir when he invented the variety. Tasted January 2016. (Quelle Robert Parker online).
The Richebourg (all 25 cases of it) could easily be confused with a 1985. It has a deep, dark ruby color, a fabulous bouquet of raspberry fruit, vanilla, and toast, and a long, velvety, rich finish. It has plenty of soft tannins to help it last, but it will be difficult not to drink this wine before 1994-1996 as it tastes so good (Quelle Robert Parker online).
The Richebourg should reach its full potential around 1994-1995, and the staggering concentration of fruit, tight structure, and smashing length of this wine are the sorts of things that make great burgundy legendary.
When asked why his wines are so consistently great, Jayer simply responds, "I make the kind of wine I like." His wines are aged in 100% new oak, are never filtered, and are bottled directly from the barrel. The excellent color and well-delineated, intense Pinot Noir fruit he gets could well come from his special "cold maceration," which involves totally destemming the grapes after picking and putting them in tanks where they stay before the fermentation starts. Modern oenologists would no doubt be horrified at such a process as the risk of oxidation is high, but never, ever have I tasted a volatile or oxidized bottle of wine from Jayer. As he says, to make great wine, one must assume certain risks. Jayer feels his finest vintages are 1978, 1985, 1980, and 1986. The 1985s are all quite profound, deeply colored, and packed with fruit. They should last and improve until at least 1997-2003. They are more tannic than many other 1985s. (Quelle Robert Parker online).
The 1982 Echezeaux Grand Cru from Henri Jayer is one of those wines where I am so glad to have been able to assess it over the course of a couple of hours, here, at a splendid lunch in Hong Kong. This mercurial wine commences with a typical 1982 nose: a little diffuse and ferrous, musky with Girolles and black truffle. The palate is nicely balanced but rustic and loose-knit, and over the course of 60 minutes those threads tend to loosen and it feels like it is falling apart. Then it miraculously seems to embroider itself back together, like a ragdoll coming back to life. It gains cohesion, weight and intensity, and by the end of the lunch it is probably drinking better than ever. This is quite an astonishing, cerebral wine. Drink now-2018+. Tasted November 2013. (Quelle Robert Parker online).
The Nuits St.-Georges Les Murgers is rich, tannic, deep, and backward, but oh so pure. When asked why his wines are so consistently great, Jayer simply responds, "I make the kind of wine I like." His wines are aged in 100% new oak, are never filtered, and are bottled directly from the barrel. The excellent color and well-delineated, intense Pinot Noir fruit he gets could well come from his special "cold maceration," which involves totally destemming the grapes after picking and putting them in tanks where they stay before the fermentation starts. Modern oenologists would no doubt be horrified at such a process as the risk of oxidation is high, but never, ever have I tasted a volatile or oxidized bottle of wine from Jayer. As he says, to make great wine, one must assume certain risks. Jayer feels his finest vintages are 1978, 1985, 1980, and 1986. The 1985s are all quite profound, deeply colored, and packed with fruit. They should last and improve until at least 1997-2003. They are more tannic than many other 1985s (Quelle Robert Parker online).
