The wines of Henri Jayer (1922-2006) have mythical status in Burgundy. Coveted by many but tasted by just a precious few, they are some of the region’s rarest and most desirable – considered by some to be the pinnacle of what can be achieved with Pinot Noir.
Henri Jayer was born in Vosne-Romanée in 1922 and continued to live and work in the village for much of his life. He studied oenology at the University of Dijon and joined the wine industry when he agreed to sharecrop the Camuzet family’s holdings from 1945. He looked after the vineyards and in return kept 50% of the crop for himself. The first wines labelled under Henri Jayer date from the 1950s.
The plots owned by the Camuzets were Richebourg Grand Cru, Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Brûlées and Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Les Meurgers. The agreement continued until 1987, when Méo-Camuzet took back control of the vineyards (from the 1988 vintage).
Gradually, Jayer started buying his own vineyards to supplement the Camuzet plots. Most significant of these was Cros Parantoux. The vineyard had been left to go fallow – deemed too much hard work to manage with its thin topsoil and hard bedrock – but Jayer believed otherwise. With its high altitude, he felt it offered great natural acidity and was worth the effort. From 1951, he began to acquire plots of the vineyard, replanting and nurturing the site. The Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru borders Richebourg and sits above Les Brûlées. Today it rivals many Grands Crus. Jayer built up 0.72 hectares of the site over the years, and Méo-Camuzet is the only other owner, with 0.3 hectares.
For many years the fruit was declassified to his village Vosne-Romanée, however he made the first vintage in 1978 (a year that happened to be outstanding for Burgundy). While Jayer retired in 1995, he continued to make a barrel or two of Cros Parantoux each year – with the last vintage under his name 2001.
In total, Jayer worked with 6.3 hectares, mainly around Vosne-Romanée. In addition to the 0.72 hectares of Cros Parantoux and the Camuzet holdings, Jayer owned 0.33 hectares Echezeaux Grand Cru, a 0.1-hectare plot of Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Beaumonts, 0.28 hectares of village Vosne-Romanée, as well as parcels of Bourgogne-level vines.
When Jayer retired in 1995, his nephew Emmanuel Rouget took over the holdings, who – apart from the barrel or so of Cros Parantoux made by Jayer – started making the wines under his own name, and still does today. Rouget worked alongside his uncle for decades, teaching him almost everything he knows. While wines are no longer made under the Henri Jayer label (a fact that undoubtedly makes the surviving bottles even rarer and more desirable), Jayer’s style and terroir lives on via Rouget.
Henri’s brother Georges had his own label, Domaine Georges Jayer, and Henri also made some wine with his brother’s vines between 1988 and 2001 (labelled as “Vinifié et Elevé par Henri Jayer; find these under Georges & Henri Jayer). Today the Jayer holdings of all three brothers (Henri, Georges and Lucien) are farmed by Emmanuel Rouget.
Henri Jayer’s Grand Cru Richebourg has received a flurry of press attention over the years for being the world’s most expensive wine, exceeding the likes of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Leflaive with single bottles known to sell for upwards of £12,000. However, to focus merely on Jayer’s stratospheric prices is to do a winemaking genius a serious disservice. The man behind the headlines was an innovator and pioneer, responsible for developing many of the techniques accepted today. He passed away in 2006 leaving an indelible mark on the history of fine wine.
Jayer is believed to have invented many of the winemaking techniques which now characterise top-end Burgundy. He championed old vines and low yields to produce concentrated fruit. He is thought to be the first to employ a cold soak – macerating de-stemmed fruit for five to seven days prior to fermentation. The wines were fermented in cement and aged in 100% new oak for 18 months. He was also famously opposed to filtering his wines and all bottles bear the declaration “Ce vin n’a pas été filtré” (this wine has not been filtered). With minimal treatments, careful sorting, low yields and optimum ripeness, he crafted wines of immense concentration and complexity.
Jayer said that he felt his best vintages were 1978, 1980, 1985 and 1986 – but, given the quality and rarity of Jayer’s wines, any vintage at all is worth serious consideration.
