©Linden Wilkie, 22nd April 2022

Henri Jayer would make any shortlist of top 20th century winemaker, and he is widely acknowledged as a quality pioneer in Burgundy. His approach sounds today not so radical – keep yields low, use only healthy ripe fruit in the wine, remove the stems, do cold pre-ferment maceration, try not to extract too harshly during fermentation, and age the wine exclusively in new oak for around 18 months. Many tried to imitate him, some focusing on the winemaking, when I feel the real secret was in the low yields, and strict selection and timing of harvest. We must remember that Jayer was working now close to a full generation ago – 2001 was the last vintage he made. We must remember that in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, natural ripeness came less easily than it does today, and there was also less economic support for decisions made solely for quality. Jayer’s wines stood out, and the result was high prices, even in his lifetime.

Jayer worked a strip of adjacent vineyards in the Côte de Nuits - Echezeaux, Les Beaux Monts, Aux Brûlées, Richebourg, and Cros Parantoux are adjacent, and then Les Murgers in Nuits St Georges is at the Vosne end, just 600 metres away. He farmed on a méteyage (sharecropping) basis with some Domaine Méo-Camuzet parcels, until 1987 (when he lost the Richebourg altogether); for his brother Georges (leading to an Echezeaux bottling in his own name, and one in George’s name, but both farmed and made by Henri); and land he owned himself. 

Perhaps the most iconic of his wines is the Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru 'Cros Parantoux'. An elevated strip next to Richebourg, Jayer brought this to life bit by bit from the 1950s, and initially blended the results into his village Vosne, 'Cros Parantoux' as its own premier cru debuted with the 1978 vintage. As Allen Meadows eloquently concludes in Pearl of the Côte, ‘It is difficult to say whether the celebrity of winegrower Henri Jayer (1922-2006) made the vineyard famous or the quality of the site made Jayer’s reputation. Either way it was an extraordinary marriage for 50 years.’ (p63)

How do Jayer’s wines distinguish themselves? Tasted on their own, the combination of fruit intensity, and supple texture is very appealing, but it is in comparative tastings, that the style and sheer quality really stand out. At a side-by-side vertical of Echezeaux from Jayer and DRC that I organized in 2009 it was clear that Jayer’s wines were more naturally concentrated, and had held their youthful fruitiness longer than their vintage counterparts from DRC. They were on a slower evolution track in the cellar. That sense became clearer still at the Henri Jayer and Associates Dinner The Fine Wine Experience hosted with Allen Meadows and Guillaume Rouget in Hong Kong five years ago. Afterwards I wrote – 
‘Jayer’s wines have a clarity, a raw, jewel-like precision, a concentration and brightness of fruit, and a moderate sense of gloss from the new oak. Compared to the general sense a vintage might convey, a well-stored Jayer bottle will seem strikingly vibrant and youthful in comparison. The taste is presciently modern…’

From the left: Guillaume Rouget, Erica and Allen Meadows, Linden Wilkie and Mike Wu © Spirito diVino Asia

Interest in his wines, all now ready to drink, has not faded over the years, but as the bottles continued to be consumed by Burgundy lovers worldwide, the chance to try the wines is disappearing bottle by bottle opened. Supply can only ever diminish.