The wines of Henri Jayer (1922 – 2006) produced from his tiny parcels in and around Vosne-Romanee are acclaimed as the best Burgundy that one could find. The mystique is further enhanced by the miniscule number of bottles of his wines that is available on either the auction or retail market. The main bottlings are the legendary Richebourg, Echezeaux, and Cros Parantoux. However, buying his wines can be confusing because he also produced wines for his brothers, Georges and Lucien, and some were also bottled in the name of his nephew, Emmanuel Rouget, to whom he eventually devolved his holdings.
Henri JAYER is certainly one of the most famous producer of Burgundy, his nephew Emmanuel ROUGET is also as he is reproducing all the Jayer methods.
Less people know about the Georges JAYER wines and those of Lucien JAYER. Georges is the elder brother of Henri and was a woodworker, he used to let Henri take care of his vineyards holding in full. For Echezeaux for example many people mention the Georges Jayer wines vinified by Henri Jayer are the same however no too many people mention the main issue - the terroir is different.
Georges Jayer's Echezeaux was in climat "Les Treux" whilst Henri Jayer's Echezeaux was in climat "Les Cruots". This is a big different when you realise that inside Echezeaux there are 11 different Climats and that it is the biggest Grand Cru in Burgundy after Clos de Vougeot.
Tasting it, those of Georges are often more fruit driven.
Those of Emmanuel ROUGET is a blend of the three parcels. Those of Lucien JAYER are totally different as the vineyard were tended by Lucien, not Henri.
To add more complexity into the JAYER wines, there are the Jacqueline JAYER wines (Henri's cousin), Haegelen Jayer, Gilles Jayer etc etc
Henri Jayer (1922–2006) is widely regarded as having been the greatest Burgundy vigneron of his generation. He began making wine at his father’s domaine in 1945. By the late 1970s Jayer’s fame was considerable, in part due to what is referred to as the ‘Jayer Style’ or the ‘Jayer Method’ – mostly what today we might consider fairly common practices – hard pruning, low low yields, 100% de-stemming, cold pre-ferment maceration, and – perhaps more controversially – 100% new oak maturation. Jayer was also known for very careful élévage – the looking after of the barrels of wine as they matured. The results however, were really quite exciting, and it led to a new generation of winemakers following Jayer’s methods, though perhaps seldom surpassing his results. Today these classic wines are rare and extraordinarily expensive. It has taken two years to assemble just these few carefully sourced examples.
Understanding Jayer’s wines is complicated by leasing / production sharing arrangements. In the case of Echezeaux, Jayer made wines under his own label – Domaine Henri Jayer, and for his brother Georges in what is referred to as Domaine Georges & Henri Jayer. In 1985 Henri’s nephew by marriage Emmanuel Rouget established his own domaine and came to work for Henri Jayer. Thus, three labels of Echézeaux can be found for vintages from 1985 through to 1995. As Clive Coates explained in 1997: