Jayer wines go bonkers in Hong Kong

What an extraordinary auction in Hong Kong on Friday. I have been attending wine auctions for ten years, and I have never sat through one quite like that before. Treasures from the cellar of Henri Jayer.

It doesn’t get finer or rarer. Asked just before the auction started what I thought of the estimates, I said they looked high, but that provenance carries a premium. Wines from a producer’s own cellar set the mark, especially – as in this case – if that producer is no longer with us. But I don’t think anyone might have guessed just what a premium this sale was going to bring. Just 743 bottles and magnums with a pre-sale estimate of HK$20.8m to HK$28.6m made HK$54.5m – HK$66m including the 21% buyer’s premium. Hoping to secure a ‘lesser’ lot to split amongst some enthusiasts, we were no where near the game. My paddle didn’t get lifted.

David Elswood had flown in from London to take the podium, and managed, as always, to extract the bids, and keep things fun and lively. Three hours whizzed by, and I found myself thinking, ‘oh, that was a bit of a deal’ as 12 bottles of 2000 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru ‘Cros Parantoux’ (Jayer’s legacy plot and masterpiece) made only HK$500,000 on the hammer against an estimate of HK$340,000 to HK$440,000. With premium, that is US$6,500 a bottle. And yes, that was the ‘deal’ in my view. This sale required a re-calibration of Jayer prices as the big guns went for astronomical prices – 1978 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru ‘Meurgers’ magnums went for US$29,641 each – surely a world record for NSG!! Magnums of 1985 Richebourg went for US$109,205 each, and bottles of 1978 Richebourg US$62,403 each. Has Burgundy ever fetched more? Indeed, if you want evidence that elite Burgundy is the new darling of the fine wine market, this is it.

A friend at my table managed to secure one lot, as did a friend at another table. But most of the auction was hoovered up by one or two local parties.

On the way out I glanced through a watch catalogue and thought the Pateks looked awfully cheap, and then... slowly... came back down to earth over a cup of tea at home, glad I didn't have to go through "honey, I've done something bad"!

On Saturday I was trying to make some sense of what I had witnessed and I read parts of Jacky Rigaux’s superb book on Henri Jayer, translated by James Finkel. (Not an easy book to find, though that wine book treasure trove Athenaeum in Beaune usually has copies and will mail them. Otherwise send me a note and I’ll put you in touch with Jim F).

Jayer seems to have been deeply devoted to his work, with a focus on quality at every step. But why the mystique? It is clear he made fabulous wines, but quite why this has evolved into a cult of sorts I don’t know. Certainly he had become a leader for a new generation in Burgundy in the vineyard-over-winery, low-yield, plough-your-field back-to-basics school. This is an exciting time in Burgundy.

A couple of years ago, to understand the style I organized a vertical of his Echezeaux (actually, the Echezeaux he vinified under the Domaine Georges Jayer label) in London. The ’00, ’96, ’95, ’93, ’90, ’88, ’85 were tasted paired with DRC’s Echezeaux of the same vintage. The difference is stark. If after the first pair, the rest had been served blind, anyone would have known which was which. The DRC examples were delicious, refined (for the most part), mid- to light in weight (next to Jayer’s anyway), elegant really, and for the most part ready to drink. The stems (DRC ferment whole clusters, Jayer de-stemmed) were evident in the flavour and tannin texture. In contrast the Jayer wines were bolder, deeper, fruitier, charged with energy, quite sexy, though in no way over-worked or over-wrought. And youthful! Only the ’85 could really have been said to be ‘ready’. The rest seemed a bit annoyed to have been raised from their slumber.

Later that year, I opened a magnum of Henri Jayer 1992 Cros Parantoux (would have been US$23,401 in this sale’s money), amongst a range of top level Vosne-Romanées at a dinner I co-hosted with Christie's in London. It was vibrant, intense, though mature, ready. There are no ‘off’ vintages with Jayer it seems  just ‘ready’ and ‘not ready’ (though Jim reckons the ‘86s aren’t up to the usual exalted level, and he would know). Even some bottles of Henri Jayer 1990 Bourgogne Rouge, drunk in 2008, seemed complex, fruity, and – for so humble an appellation – concentrated.

I have one ‘big gun’ remaining – Henri Jayer’s 1985 Echezeaux. I decided over the weekend that it should go into a wine event here in Hong Kong examining Echezeaux, with examples from Rouget, DRC, and others alongside. Fortunately my ’85 cost a fraction of Friday’s US$16,901, so the tickets should not be so eye-watering. Please get in touch if you are interested in attending. It should be interesting.