I got together with a couple of my Utah Burg buds last night for some fine wine and vittles at Cucina Toscana, easily the best Italian restaurant in town and certainly one of the best restaurants of any kind in Salt Lake City.
Festivities started with a bottle of 78 Dom. This is still alive and well, but this bottle while not corked had a smell and taste of actual cork which to me was weird and off-putting, like some of the cork had been dissolved into the wine. Obviously not a perfect bottle which was particularly disappointing as 78 Dom was the first vintage of Dom I ever tasted, given to me as a wedding present many moons ago and it had made a lasting positive impression. C’est la vie.
On to the main event: 82 Henri Jayer Vosne Beaumonts. OMG, this is truly a spectacular wine from a less than heralded vintage. I don’t understand why so few winemakers in Burgundy, or anywhere in the world for that matter, are able to make wines like this.
As we poured this into a decanter the color was very light pink and kind of limpid looking and weak. So much for color being an indication of quality. The nose on this is so beguiling, words really just fail. Some mix of cherry and raspberry with a gorgeous floral element with baking spice is as close as I can get. On the palate this is really light bodied, feminine, silk and lace. You certainly wouldn’t call it powerful. In fact we quipped this wine might be totally lost on a Bordeaux/ Ca. Cab lover. Yet the flavors are so focused and pure, fresh, complex, and just flat our pretty that power or lack thereof is an afterthought. While not powerful per se, this by no means lacks for concentration, midpalate presence, or persistency on the finish. And thus the genius of Henry Jayer’s wines, or at least the handful that I’ve been fortunate to have tasted. I could still taste this beautiful wine this morning. Simply stunning.
The 2 wines that had the unfortunate task of trying to follow this were an 88 Maume Mazis Chambertin and a 93 Chevillion NSG Pruliers. The Maume was actually a very nice bottle and in lesser company I could have it paid it more attention. But as there were just 3 of us, there was plenty of the Jayer to go around, the Maume just seemed a bit clumsy and monolithic by comparison. The Chevillion was corked.
I left the restaurant thinking about the movie “Babbett’s Feast”. Even though only one of 4 bottles really showed, on its own it was such a joy to drink, and the food and company were such a fine accompaniment , we all left feeling like giddy kids.
Cheers,
Mitch
Have to disagree with you alan, try some '78 (Jayer’s own admitted ‘best’ vintage) '90,(2btls of Cros Parantoux up 4 sale on winebid.com…though with all the troubles I’ve had with deplorable customer service on that site, I’m done with WB 4 good) etc side-by-side with those less heralded vintages you want. Also depends on what you define ‘best successes’ as. Certainly lighter bodied wines can be quite satisfying, but I I don’t see you loading up on lighter vintages of La Tache as compared to 1990
All academic for me now as Jayer are priced in the stratosphere these days. Sheesh, I thought paying $150 for '78 Echezeaux in 1988 was enough.
1982, while not great, was a much better vintage than it was given credit for. An American journalist who had just become prominent at the time essentially wrote the vintage off, hence the source of its bad reputation notwithstanding what many knowledgeable retailers said. It was only some years later that many consumers decided that the journalist’s opinions on Burgundy weren’t very reliable.
There were some great bottles to be had, if you knew where to look.
Claude, when the '82s were released and around, I was working at Pacific Wine Co. at the original location. Even at full retail (which I didn’t pay, of course), those wines were cheap and delicious.
I bought Jayer V-R Les Brulees, V-R Cros Parantoux, and Echezeaux from that vintage. Probably drank a couple of Richebourg, too. All since drunk up.
Jayer (Rouget) and Beaumonts is an awesome combo. Don’t understimate the Beaumonts’ contribution to the equation, though. I don’t think their Beaumonts holdings are that far behind the Cros P in quality.
sounds great!
pity the maume…at the other end of the finesse spectrum, particularly in 1988. I have some I"ve been afraid to touch. One thing about a Maume wine, though, is not compare it to other wines. When they’re not compared they can be spectacular, but…
I’ve had the heralded years, too, and don’t find that they rise above the crowd the way the 81, 82, 86 have. I also consider that the Richebourg wasn’t that great the few vintages I tried long ago. I paid about $300 for 78 Cros and thought that was exorbitant! As for lighter LT vintages, give me all the 1980 LT you want!
alan
Enjoyed the comments gents. BTW and FWIW the original price tag was still on the Jayer…$31.42. I haven’t priced this and have no idea but I assume the decimal point would move 2 places to the right and maybe that still wouldn’t buy a bottle?
Tom, is there some trend of 93 Chevillions being corked? I opened a Les St. George last year that was wonderful and have a couple more in the cellar.
Stuart, right you are. This was very much along the lines of either a Rouget Cros P or Beaumonts. Though I’d never had one with this much bottle age on it before, that special perfume and mouthfeel is defintely cut from the same cloth as the Rouget’s I’ve had which I guess is not such a surprise as Hank did the winemaking there. I’m so pleased to have a good stash of 99 Rouget Beaumonts. I hope at age 30 they show as well as this did!
As to the Maume, yes, big and powerful, masculine and brawny, and an unfortunate placement to have to follow the Jayer. And right again, being an 88 didn’t help the cause either.
I’m not a Jayer “expert” and I’m not sure of your question…if it’s asking which vintage?..but I have had a couple of Jayer '83s that I thought were super, albeit way too young…years ago. Like everyone else…I shoulda bought a lot…then
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