Henri Jayer

People who appreciate outstanding red wines avidly collect vintages produced under the label of the late Henri Jayer. Today, the innovative French vintner's increasingly rare products still appeal to wine experts.

Henri Jayer (1922-2006) excelled as a French vintner. Born in Vosnee-Romanée, he gained a degree in wine making from the University of Dijon as a young man. During the 1950s, he began producing fine wines on several small parcels of land he had inherited. The Henri Jayer label soon gained a reputation for extraordinary balance, a quality especially associated with his dark red wines.

Henri Jayer differed from many contemporaries by insisting upon some specific cultivation techniques that he believed would enhance the overall quality of wine. He opted for lower grape harvests grown through careful, very attentive cultivation methods instead of focusing on techniques that might have yielded higher quantities of grapes. For instance, his vineyards did not use pesticides; instead, meticulous weeding helped his vines thrive. Additionally, he would remove the stems of grapes before sending produce for crushing, a decision that reduced the level of bitter tannins in the wines carried under his label.

His label eventually gained particular acclaim for producing wines at a small vineyard in Vosne-Romanée, Cros-Parantoux, and a property he purchased from the Camuzet family. In 1996, he began working closely with his nephew, Emmanuel Rouget, and he remained active as a vintner until the early years of this century. Henri Jayer passed away at the age of 84 in 2006.

Today, Jayer's wines remain the high water mark at auction in terms of price per bottle. These wines generally command 4 figures, and the top wines can easily exceed in to the 5 figures. No matter what wine it is, anything with Jayer's name on it will be magically, as not only were his wines awe-inspiring, but the generation of wine making he left behind is trying to produce at the same level too.