Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux 1978

Herwig_Janssen · April 4, 2012, 4:47pm

At my friend’s 70th birthday last week, he opened this fabulous bottle of Cros Parantoux 1978 . The wine tasted like a 1990 ( I know because the other bottle was an Echezeaux 1990 from H Jayer ).
How it is possible that a wine tastes so young at age 34 , I don’t know . The style is rather robust , compared to the Echezeaux but everything was in balance .Powerful and fresh . This time , I preferred it to the Ech . ( the wine was purchased on release directly from Jayer , I guess I need to mention this in these turbulent years ).
In his briljant little book : millésimes en Bourgogne 1846-2006 by Jacky Rigaud , Jayer commented on the vintage and this wine : 1978 is one of the greatest vintages I ever made and without a doubt one of the best years of the century . Jayer , in 2001 , opened this Cros to celebrate his 80th birthday . I believe it was the first Cros Parentoux he ever made.
( I know this is a board with great Burgundu lovers . But believe it or not , the Cros that night was outshined by a Petrus 1950 , best Bordeaux I ever tasted . Also still fresh and going immensely strong ).

B_Buzzini · April 4, 2012, 6:32pm

What a trio of wines! Wish I had friends(wink wink to my friends) like that!

mark_rudner · April 4, 2012, 6:53pm

wow, great story. now where’s the jealousy emoticon?

Anthony_Hall · April 4, 2012, 7:29pm

Wonderful wines for a great celebration. Happy birthday to your friend.

Peter_Kleban · April 4, 2012, 8:13pm

Fantastic birthday party. Best wishes to your friend, and I only wish that I knew him myself!

Lewis_Dawson · April 4, 2012, 9:20pm

Great party. I’ll be happy to make it to 80, whether I drink Cros Parantoux or not!

paul_hanna · April 4, 2012, 11:23pm

CP can certainly live a very long time, no doubt about that…in the hands of Jayer, they are masterpieces.

Given though the prices these wines bought in the recent Christies sale (no '78 CP though, but the '85 was over $20,000 a bottle…), I guess you would have to be pretty brave to open one, 70th birthday or not…

Paul_H_Galli · April 5, 2012, 12:54pm

WOWSERS!!!

Now THAT’S a Murderers Row!

TTT

alan_weinberg · April 5, 2012, 1:20pm

got to taste that 78 CP once–and you are lucky the 90 Jayer Echezeaux wasn’t corked, as many such bottles are.
alan

Roger_Nellans · April 5, 2012, 10:44pm

I’ll be in Burgundy in December celebrating my 70th birthday. My wife asked what I wanted…now I have an idea

B_Buzzini · April 6, 2012, 12:52am

70??? You drink like you’re 40!

That should be fun…wish I could tag along!

Roger_Nellans · April 6, 2012, 3:13am

Hey Buzz, come on over it’s going to be a good party.

Herwig_Janssen · April 6, 2012, 7:56am

If you really want to know : we started with 4 white wines

Haut Brion blanc 1983 : still going strong . Still fresh .

A trio of Montrachet : 83 and 85 Ramonet and 83 DRC . The 85 Ramonet was initially my favorite : spicy , hay and honey on the nose , real elegance . Still vibrant . The 83 Ramonet was golden in color and a bit an old lady , a lot of class but aging … like a lot of us on this board . The 83 DRC opened up during half an hour to become a big strong powerful Montrachet of almost epic proportions . A mega wine . A touch of honey made it irresistable .