I remember very well one of the paths that led me to a different perception of wines was the result of tasting Henri Jayer's wines...had I not tasted, I perhaps would still have been stuck in the ignorant mode of continually drinking wines that taste liked stewed fruit compote.
This particular bottle actually was tasted after I made some startling conclusions because of walking through the Cros Parantoux vineyard. I will never forget my first sight of a small patch of green land in a portion of the vineyard - the little oasis at the intersection of Richebourg and Cros Parantoux!! And the realization that the vines grow North/South stunned me... Something that I never had thought about before. So what exactly does it mean?? Now I realize that Henri must have felt the ambition of coming close to the great land which sits just a hundred meters away called Romanee Conti.
One day I will drink a '93 Cros P next to '93 Romanee Conti and make a prayer as it must be something to try them side by side. It will prove the truth to me about the theory of Henri's ambition and what he strove for...I could of course be totally wrong...
At one point I actually thought that perhaps through his wife, Henri had actually somehow got a hold of some clippings from Romanee Conti or perhaps La Tache, and planted them in the old artichoke field...but now those thoughts have somewhat been pushed aside. Although yet I still wonder at the amazing pungency of the five spice nose which it seems that only Henri's wines can achieve - that is of course other than those from DRC. Even his Echezeaux, which is quite far away in distance and also quite a bit more flat land(ed) in comparison to the DRC's great vineyards all surrounding Romanee Conti, has the five spice - V5. It is the secret of the master. It is sometimes even more defined in Henri's wines than in the DRC - in the DRC one just smells the five spice and it blends beautifully and seamlessly into the structure. But in Henri's wines, the five spices are like a royal flush that fans out in front of your palate and challenge your senses.
In this '93, the five spices are not yet showing though!! Strange for an Henri wine, but what is there is a mountain so grand and noble that one is daunted by the sheer immensity of the expression. Someone shouts from the highest point in the Cote de Nuits about the greatness of this vintage. Darkness - is it really night so black and fathomless? Who is that calling? Is it something scary or is it benign? But some time passes and you realize something of this wine, then you can see and taste that Henri's message is a cry of desperation.
The conflict in this wine is so elemental as to really frighten this taster. I thought about something like Scarbo or E. Allen Poe...something that rises from the bottom of the earth like a giant shadow. As the shadow grows and grows, you sense the possible that the wine imagines - that it tries to eclipse the great Romanee Conti.
I can surely say that the day I taste the two wines side by side will be one of great sadness. No Cros P will ever dominate Romanee Conti, and yet I know now that the spirit of the Cros P will dominate the RC!! It will be a fantastic battle of two forces. Man vs. nature. Conti will be entirely confident and will not try to win. She will show her nobility and no matter the wine maker!! But Henri will always be remembered as the man who attempted to defy terroir.
Copyright © Peter Wittenberg
Nihon - Japan
The Four Elements
