Langton’s have been fortunate enough to unearth a treasure trove of 12 bottles of 1985 Cros Parantoux, among the greatest vintages of the last 30 years and arguably, the century. These venerable bottles are yet to be disturbed from the cradle of the original single case packaging, aside from the peek at the ullage, quality of cork and seal demanded by our auction team in the name of quality assurance. Moreover, this single case was purchased directly from the party who imported the dozen by a long-term devotee of fine wine and trusted client. The provenance is unimpeachable. There has been only one owner. Until now…

Jayer was born in Vosne-Romanée in 1922. This illustrious commune became the quiver whence his greatest wines were drawn. After graduating in oenology from the University of Dijon in the 1940’s, he began producing wines under his own label, soon after, in the 1950’s. Jayer drew on a small inheritance of plots in Echezeaux and Beaux Monts for his early releases, the first in 1945.

Yet despite his fortuitous inheritance, it was what Jayer did with his land that laid the path for other great growers. Jayer defied the status-quo and largely eschewed chemicals and fertilisers, the ploughs of plenty that dragged France from wartime asceticism into a new era of productivity. For Jayer, volume was anathema to the abstemious yields and later harvesting windows he championed, all in the name of quality. Jayer also declined to filter his wines for fear of erasing the voice of the land and encouraged de-stemming of the grapes for the purity of flavours it services. He was also an early proponent of generous applications of high-quality oak and ‘cold soaking’, a cool, pre-fermentation maceration that gleans colour and aromatic complexities from a wine. It was clear from the start that Henri Jayer did things his way.

However it was not his initial holdings, as prestigious as they were, that brought him the greatest renown. It was a newly acquired parcel of the premier cru Cros-Parantoux. Then perceived as a bit of an ugly duckling, Cros-Parantoux was considered excessively challenged by its meso-climate to provide wines of the highest order. Situated well above Richebourg, it was considered too elevated and cold to ripen its fruit. Moreover, the thin and marly topsoil soon gave way to a sub-strata of hard limestone bedrock, virtually impenetrable. The toil required to plant new vines was considered the realm of a mad man. Jayer was that man!

Today, Jayer’s nephew, Emmanuel Rouget, is the recipient of Henri’s holdings. While Rouget bears the torch, Henri Jayer’s wines encapsulate the mystique, courage and greatness befitting liquids that bring goosebumps and tears, as if Christ shook hands with Gandhi and the world was reset on a better axis.

Many collectors consider them the greatest wines ever crafted, or ‘twice as good as la Tache 1962’ as one lucky drinker quipped. Tim Tiptree MW, Christie’s International Director of Wine enthuses, ‘His wines are certainly among the finest I have ever tasted…particularly the Cros Parantoux.’ From a personal perspective, I was fortunate enough to taste the 1985 Cros Parantoux on a number of occasions in New York where I once worked. I remember weeping at its sensual aromas and silken texture as my knees shook, beholden to the sort of transcendental grandeur that remains among my greatest of memories.

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