Terroir insight – Jayer-Gilles Echezeaux du Dessus

This is a new format on the blog … articles where the location of the terroir of one wine is uncovered in depth and detail.

First out is the Jayer-Gilles Echezeaux du Dessus, one of the relatively few single climate and single plot Echezeaux’s on the market.

Climate and location

The plot – cadastre no 631 – is located in the northern end of Echezeaux du Dessus on the border to Les Poulailleres. The plot is 0.54 ha, and the neighbor to the south within Echezeaux du Dessus is Niquet-Jayer – cadastre no 632 – now produced by or sold to a negociant To the north we have one of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti’s plots in Les Poulailleres.

In the corner of the Jayer-Gilles holdings – on a separate plot – there is a small building, just next to the road between Echezeaux du Dessus and Grands Echezeaux – see photo below.

Photo: Echezeaux du Dessus seen from north – with Les Poulailleres in the foreground.

The history of this plot

The Jayer-Gilles plot has been owned by the Jayer family since 1933, where it was sold by Domaine de la Romanee-Conti – presumably to finance the acquisition of La Tache the year before ⁴.

This and the neighboring plot – cadastre 632 – now owned by Jayer-Niquet – 1.07 ha in total – was acquired by the Jayer family in 1933 – most likely by Leon Adolphe Jayer (1874 – ? )⁵, the uncle of Henri Jayer – since the plot seem to have been divided between his children.
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Adolphe Jayer had two children – Rene Jayer (1906 – )⁵ and Anne Marie Jayer (1900 – ?)⁵ and the holdings on Echezeaux du Dessus was apparently divided between the two of them.

On the Rene side of the family the plot was later passed on to his son Robert Jayer, while his sister Madeleine – married to Alfred Haegelan – got some of the other vineyards.

Robert Jayer have now passed the domaine over to his son Gilles Jayer. So now Gilles Jayer is running Jayer-Gilles.

On the Anne Marie Jayer side her daughter Colette Jayer – married to Marcel Niquet (1935 – ) – inherited the plot. Niquet-Jayer still owns this plot, but last vintage produced seem to be 2003.

The early history of the plot

Lavalle¹ mention Duveaux (Duvault) as one of the owners in 1855 – thus indicating that the predecessors/ancestors of the current DRC owners already had acquired these plots when Lavalle wrote his book.

In Danguy & Aubertin² (1892) Duvault was mentioned among the owners on Echezeaux du Dessus again, and Rodier³ (1920) mentioned de Villaine and Chambon as owners thus confirming the DRC ownership some 13 years before the sale to the Jayer family.

References & Sources:

1. Jules Lavalle, Histoire et Statistique de la Vignes et Des Grands Vins de la Côte d’Or (1855)
2. M.R. Danguy et M. Ch. Aubertin, Les Grands Vins de Bourgogne (1892)
3. Camille Rodier, Le Vin de Bourgogne (1920)
4. Allen D. Meadows, The Pearl of the Côte (2010)
5. Jayer family tree – by Kenneth McNamara

Special thanks to Tom Shillaker and Gilles Corre from Asset Wines for the helpful informations and comments.

Tasting Notes for this producer

• Domaine Jayer-Gilles, Echezeaux 1999 March 1, 2016
• Domaine Jayer-Gilles, Echezeaux 2002 June 6, 2015
• Domaine Jayer-Gilles, Echezeaux 2002 October 31, 2013

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