Henri Jayer, the legendary Vosne winemaker’s estate, is still under the ownership of the Jayer/Rouget family.
The house was for a period owned by his daughter, but was a few years back sold to Guillaume Rouget (son of Emmanuel Rouget) and his wife Laure Guilloteau.
Domaine Henri Jayer is like the holy grail for some Burgundy collectors, as Henri Jayer made some utterly fantastic wines until he gradually resigned in the mid to late 1990s, producing the last vintage in 2001.
He left the vineyards to Emmanuel Rouget, who today makes the wines together with his son Guillaume Rouget.
All the bottles from the Henri Jayer cellar have been sold at a big Baghera auction in Geneva in 2018, so no more Jayer bottles in the old cellar, only memories and a certain Jayer ambience … giving the place some history.
The Jayer estate has been unused for the last 20 years, but there is still some winemaking equipment and furniture left from the time under Henri Jayer.
It’s to many just an old cellar … but to Burgundy geeks like me a great experience that sort of concludes the Henri Jayer era. Henri Jayer passed away in 2006 but his wines and legacy live on.
The Les Petits Lieux
Guillaume Rouget and his wife Laure Guilloteau have now established a new Domaine in the old buildings – Domaine Les Petits Lieux …
The new estate has no own vineyards yet, but the tasting of the 2023s showed that they make truly excellent wines from negociant grapes … a great and promising new start.
The negociant Vosne Village in the 2023 vintage somehow has some strong historic links back to Jayer estate … and despite no new oak, it has some of the Jayer feel (or is it just me?).
Just for a note, the last Henri Jayer village wine I tasted was the 1995 Vosne Village tasted at La Côte d’Or with Bernard Loiseau in the restaurant – just months before he left his legendary restaurant for good.
This is however a “new estate”, with “new people” and ambitions, so only time will show how the couple will develop their style … but so far it is very promising.
- A true vin d’émotion – a Burgundy of passion
- A truly hedonistic wine – lively and enjoyable
- A vivacious wine for pure indulgance
- A potential vin d´émotion - frais et léger