If La Romanée-Conti is the most valuable vineyard land in Burgundy, the most mythic is perhaps Le Cros Parantoux, its cosmic celebrity owed to the work of one man, the late Henri Jayer. Jayer (1922-2006) is remembered too as a pioneering grower and a gifted winemaker, whose legacy is to have changed the face of red wine in the region and to have created some of the most revered bottles of burgundy, cherished the world over.
For Jayer the vineyard was the source of quality; in an era of herbicidal treatment for weeds, he reverted to the plough, and he pushed back against the mid-century trend towards increasing yields (and thinner wines) by employing a hard-pruning regime. In the cellar he bucked the trend towards whole bunch fermentation, choosing to de-stem to avoid astringency, and he was one of the first to use cold maceration – holding the crushed grapes in chilled tanks for up to four days for a refined extraction of tannins and flavours prior to fermentation – and temperature-controlled fermentation. Ambient yeasts alone were used. In barrel the wine was racked as little as possible and it was not filtered prior to bottling. Neck labels declaring ‘ce vin n’a pas été filtré’ is a signature detail.
After studying the newly minted subject of oenology at Dijon University (where courses were given by his Vosne-Romanée neigbour René Engel) Jayer began his vineyard career by managing the vines owned by the Camuzet family. An inheritance also endowed him with three hectares including small parcels of grand cru Echezeaux and premier cru Les Beaux Monts. Above Richebourg (where he was tending vines for the Camuzet family) was the 1 hectare plot of Cros Parantoux, then non-classified and all but abandoned. During WW2 it was given over to artichokes. Jayer sensed the potential for winegrowing – the prevailing view was that owing to north facing aspect it was too cold for quality production – and negotiated a share cropping agreement with the owner Madame Noirot-Camuzet prior to singlehandedly cleared the ground for replanting.
For more than two decades Jayer ‘declassified’ these vines, judging them not yet of the premier cru designation attained by the vineyard, blending the juice into his Vosne-Romanée vats. The first vintage with the Cros Parantoux label was 1978, marking the birth of a legend. By this time Jayer had bought two-thirds of the land, the remainder remaining in the hands of the (since 1959 Méo-)Camuzet estate.
Jayer’s methods combined to highlight freshness and fruit and emphasised the aromas and silky textures of the wine. Absence of filtering endowed the wines with body and richness. From the first bottlings under the Jayer name they provided a template that inspired Pinot Noir producers around the globe.
Henri Jayer wines are highly sought after even today, despite the 2001 being Jayer’s final vintage. His 1985 Richebourg was feted in 2015 by Wine-Searcher.com for being ‘the most expensive wine in the world’. Success brings its own problems and Jayer wines have inevitably been counterfeited. Label scrutiny is essential for dealers even now, and firm evidence of provenance is an essential element of any transaction. Two auctions of wine direct from Jayer’s family reserves, Christies sale in 2012 and Baghera’s (CHF34m) sale in 2018 have introduced proven stock into the market, the latter having equipped the bottles with fresh labels* and Prooftag security.
In addition to bottling his personal domaine wines Henri Jayer made wines from vines inherited by his brothers Georges, notably Echezeaux, and Lucien. The former are labelled under the name of Georges & Henri Jayer and state ‘vinifié et élevé par Henri Jayer’. The latter do not bear Henri’s name.
In order to protect his pension rights Jayer was required to pass on his land to his successor in 1995, his nephew Emmanuel Rouget. Rouget had learned his craft under the tutelage of Jayer and is regarded as carrying his uncle’s torch today. Jayer himself continued to make wine from half of the vines between 1996 and 2001, the bottles bearing the signifier ‘Réserve Henri Jayer’*.
Jayer wines are undeniably magical, yet Jayer saw himself as nothing more than a vigneron. Historical photos show him as a vineyard worker clad in traditional blue overalls and sometimes a beret. He rarely gave interviews and there is a sense that he was unmoved by the global renown of his wines. And while he followed clear precepts in viticulture and vinification his results seemed to be due to alchemy as much as science. He influenced Vosne grower Jean-Yves Bizot, who worked neighbouring plots and who would discuss winemaking with Jayer. Bizot did not adopt every tenet of the Jayer method, but some Jayer magic appears to have rubbed off.
*Pre 1996 vintages sold via the 2018 Baghera sale also bear the ‘Reserve’ descriptor
Vineyard holdings of Henri Jayer (total 6.3ha)
Grand Cru
Echezeaux, 0.33ha (inherited)
Premier Cru
Cros Parantoux, 0.72ha (acquired over time, sufficient for 3500 bottles pa)
Beaux-Monts, 0.1ha
Other
Vosne-Romanée, 0.28 ha
Bourgogne
And
Richebourg Grand Cru, en metayage from Camuzet (until 1987)