Cros-Parantoux, heavenly bottles within reach

Just as, in the Middle-Ages, the Burgurdian monks patiently developed an authentic savoir-faire, knitted with careful observation of Mother Nature, inventiveness and common sense, Henri Jayer, in his own time and in his own way, following these ancient precepts, modeled with his own hands one of the most emblematic vine plots which became a legend…

Henri Jayer sets up as a vigneron in the aftermath of WWII and produces his very first vintage under the name “Domaine Henri Jayer” in 1945.

Whilst farming the Echézeaux, the Richebourg, the Vosne “Brulées” and the Nuits-Saint-Georges “Meurgers”, Henri Jayer has an eye on the neighbouring plot of land called “Cros-Parantoux”. Located above the Combe Brûlée, near the pine wood and the road to Concœur, this plot benefits from a unique set-up: Grand Cru at the bottom, Premier Cru at the South and Village at the top. Planted with Jerusalem artichokes (topinambours) at the time, the story goes that the land used to be a vineyard in earlier days… Why shouldn’t it regain its primary purpose…

Starting in 1953, Henri Jayer steadily acquires, acre by acre, this inhospitable, rough land of Cros-Parantoux. He has the intuition of the soil’s potential. And indeed, potential is the word… It will take hundreds of sticks of dynamite and more than forty-eight trucks full of bedrock stones to transform this gruff plot into a young, “schooled” vineyard. Over the decades, Henri Jayer relentlessly nurtures this vineyard planted with Pinot Noir, as he would a child. It is no surprise that his daughters call the “Cros” their father’s “bébé”…

It is only as from 1978 that this passionate perfectionist considers the quality of his Cros-Parantoux at its peak, “sufficient” enough to allow single-parcel bottling. Happy the holders of Vosne-Romanée Village from vintages pre-1978, for a percentage of their bottles originates from the legendary Cros-Parantoux which Monsieur Jayer, at the time, used to blend into his Vosne Village…

Twenty-four vintages altogether were produced from the Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros-Parantoux by Henri Jayer between 1978 and 2001. The “Henri Jayer, The Heritage” sale offers the last opportunity to acquire perfect bottles and magnums born from this fantastic connection between a man with a view and a plot of land. From magnums of the mythical 1978 vintage to a dozen-bottle lot of his last vintage in 2001. Heaven on your doorstep…