Craig - Thanks for the heads up. I do have an i-Phone - but for now - will stick with the paper maps. I have them stretched out across the dining room table – and keep running over to them as I read. Sure helps to see exactly where everything is!
As for Jayer, I’ll probably never taste one of his wines either – 
but who knows – Never is a long, long time!
According to Parker Burgundy Book…he rated H. Jayer 1983 as follows : Ech 88;NSG - Les Murgers :86; Rich : 92; V-R 84; V-R Les Beaux Monts 87; V-R Les Brules : 85 and C-Parantoux 89.
No review was print for this book for vintage 1984.
The 1985 as follows : Ech 93;NSG - Les Murgers : 90; Rich : 96; V-R Les Brules : 91 and C-Parantoux 91.
The 1986 as follows : Ech 92;NSG - Les Murgers :89; Rich : 94; V-R Les Brules : 90 and C-Parantoux 90 and
The 1987 as follows : Ech 93;NSG - Les Murgers :89; Rich : 95; V-R 85; V-R Les Beaux Monts 90; V-R Les Brules : 92 and C-Parantoux 91.
Just to have a comparision, here are how he rated 1985 DRC - Ech 92;G-Ech 95; RC 100; RSV : 94, Rich : 96 and LT : 98.
Rousseau 1985 - Chambertin 91; Cdeze 90 and the rest from 83 to Gevery-Chamebrt and 89 for CSJ.
Yes…there is no review after vintage 1987 - in this book. I will check my old, old WA issues and see…
I couldn't find any reviews after '87 and don't know if there is a story behind that.[
Thank you Kevin
The only way to learn about Burgundy as you read, looking at the vineyards. I didn’t understand Burgundy until I stood in front of the big hill and an ‘aha’ moment happened, it all became clear.
One of the best threads I have read, thanks to all the informed folks sharing their information.
No real idea, but two thoughts. One is that Jayer released his wines into the market place a little later than most , so…maybe he was too late for those editions. More likely is that Jayer was, by 1988, telling people he had retired and to see Rouget. (I know because he I got such a handwritten letter when I got home from the region in summer 1988; I didn’t think to follow up with a call when I was there, as I hadn’t heard from Jayer before I left for Burgundy; I learned later to do so with anyone I wanted to visit.) Don’t know if Parker reviewed Rouget then…or just didn’t review the wines. Like I’ve said many times, Jayer made wines for around 16 more vintages, though the labels might not reflect that. Jayer was paranoid about his government pension…maybe not paranoid, but perceptive, but very concerned to not jeopardize it. I finally did get to visit him, in 1992 …From then on, I visited Rouget, though.
Jason - I had many aha moments while zipping up and down the Cote. Trouble is the more you learn the more you want to learn. For example, now I’d seek out Jayer’s vines - just because. Next time I visit, I’dlike to spend more time in the vineyards. Only so much one can do in a week. 
Agree. You can read and look at all the maps, but there is no substitute for actually being there and observing for yourself. That’s the way it will sink in!
Interesting, thanks Stuart. I took a look and Parker did review Rouget in 1990 but not again (the next WA reviews were from Rovani). Your point about Jayer referring people to Rouget is consistent with my belief that except for bottlings where the holdings differed (maybe Echezeaux?), the Jayer and Rouget wines were nearly identical for a decade or so starting in 1988.
The Rouget 1990 CP is an amazing wine, got uncle Henri’s fingerprints all over it…
As for the scarcity of Parker reviews, one must remember that Burg coverage was very spotty back in the day, and numerous vintages were never covered by TWA. But Parker has quoted, at least a thousand times, the Jayer comment about if a wine tastes too tannic, it is too tannic. I don’t think Jayer was off Parker’s radar screen even back in the early/mid 1980’s. And scores were different back then, with really high numbers being quite rare in TWA.
Kevin, not from a scores perspective, but Parker has frequently quoted Jayer as authority for his belief that all Burgundy (and indeed, virtually all red wines) should be black, thick fruit-bomb material. In that context, a curious combination of Parker’s misinterpretations of Peynaud’s work (as such work was further bastardized by Parker’s good buddy Michel Rolland) and Parker’s wholesale adoption of what he understood to be Jayer’s practices are primary forces in the disaster that is Robert M. Parker, Jr. Jayer’s “if it is too tannic in the barrel it will always be too tannic” quote led Parker to his rants about thin, light, green, tannic, acidic Burgundies. The problem there is that Jayer himself did not understand how to manage tannins (see the excellent “man of his times” discussion above), and thus, he solved the problem by destemming. Many excellent wines are 100% destemmed, but at least as many are not, of course.
Beside what I had found in his Burg Book, I could not find any more Parker review on H. Jayer in his WA issues after vintage 1987.
BH has quite a number of reviews for Jayer’s wines, going right back…much more relevant to me IMHO than Parker…
I just hopped on an '85 Bourgogne, hoping for the best. We shall see, though my due diligence told me that the wine has a great chance of drinking very well.
MK
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Yea -definitely.
Around 98, I was at a restaurant in Dijon where I found the 94 Henri Jayer VR. I didn’t expect much but ordered it as the price was right at under $100. It was so tasty I went back for a lunch and ordered the 94 Jayer CP for aroune $200 which was beautiful, perhaps knowing that they were Jayer’s wines enhanced the whole experience but they were really good. Based on this and what I have read, Mr. Jayer made exceptional wines in poor vintages.
P.S. Other than a few of the 03s, I have not tasted any burgs that are like the big cali pinots. The fruit is not as sweet and ripe and there is no noticeable alcohol.
That wine brings back a memory that I feel compelled to share, FWIW.
In summer 1988 we visited the region with our then 18-month old son. Friends in the wine biz were there, too, and they insisted we go out and they would babysit. We had written for an appointment with Mr. Jayer, but the letter arrived after we got home and we didn’t realize yet that that shouldn’t have stopped us. We went to the restaurant in Bouilland near Becky Wasserman’s house (The Vieux Moulin) and I saw this wine on the list. Why not!! We really liked it a lot…and when we tried to tell the waiter…he said something like “calm down, mister, this is only a Bourgogne, after all”. To this day I’m not sure if he was putting us down or telling us that if we wanted to really experience some fireworks, there are better candidates. I chuckle, though, thinking about it, as I assume the former.
Enjoy that wine. As people said, Jayer and people like him (Patrice Rion is one that comes most to mind) are masters of “off” vintages. IMO, 1985 wasn’t one of his best. I don’t think Jayer really liked that vintage much, in fact. I think he preferred '86 and even '87.
I am lucky enough to have a very close friend who knew Henri Jayer since the seventies and purchased yearly lot’s of wine direct , all the way till Henri died .( HJ made wine after his retirement and sold them very expensively to his " mailing list clients… ).
I tasted well over 50 different wines from Jayer and my findings are :
- His wines may have been dark in color at the start , but they were not when I had them . Actually , I find them quite transparent in color.
-Jayer was somebody who started the vendages early and he almost ALWAYS chapalized , sometimes a lot ! I guess that is one of the reasons why he made good wines in poor vintages , he must have been a master at this . - He made Cros Parentoux famous but his Echezeaux is a better wine imo.
- He did not believe in keeping the stems ( DRC did ) and I believe he was right most of the times . Stems only bring an additional degree of finesse in very ripe years .
-his wines age beautifully , even the villages ones .
-Echezeaux 1980 ( magnum ) and Richebourg 1985 were my favorites . Pure finesse , (no power house style) wines that will age effortlessly for 50 years and more .
The 85 CP was perfect.
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1985 Henri Jayer Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru (1/25/2005)
I have never had any wine with such purity. The color is so brilliant that it glows like a diamond. The nose is so intense and pure, utterly indescribable. Wild fire, Tornado of wine, constant sensory overload, wave after wave of perfectly ripe dark and red berries, cold smoked rare beef blood, beet, aged balsamico essence, clove, wet limestone and etc. In the mouth, unbelievably intensity yet feels like a cotton candy as the wine is perfectly balanced and delineated. May I dare say that this wine had twice the concentration of the 85 La Tahce. Perfectly focused core fruit with complementing mineral quality, a red wine equivalent of a great bottle of les clos. The finish is unbelievably long and so sweet, Wow Wow Wow. Unlike the 85 La Tache, the nose did not change/evolve at all throughout the night. In my personal preference, this really was twice better than the 85 La Tache. I would never thought that there can be anything better than the 62 La Tache but this bottle changed my mind. (100 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Kevin…Altaya ( in Hong Kong )…has H. Jayer 85 C-P on their list.