By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 21, 7:26 PM ET
PARIS - Henri Jayer, a master of supremely concentrated, immaculately balanced pinot noir who was viewed by many connoisseurs to be the finest Burgundy winemaker of his generation, has died, his daughter said Thursday. He was 84.
Jayer died Wednesday at a medical clinic in the eastern city of Dijon after a long battle with prostate cancer, said his daughter, Dominique Rolin.
She spoke by phone from her father's home in the nearby village of Vosne Romanee, where he made lush, seductive pinot noir from such renowned grand cru vineyards as Richebourg and Echezeaux. Great vintages of these wines now sell for thousands of dollars per bottle at auctions.
The American wine critic Allen Meadows, who reviews Burgundies on his Web site http://www.burghound.com, said Jayer was "arguably the most famous Burgundian winemaker ever."
"Just as importantly, he unquestionably has had the greatest impact and influence among today's generation of Burgundian winemakers," Meadows wrote on the Mark Squires' Bulletin Board on http://www.erobertparker.com.
Jayer's prize-winning wines gained a worldwide reputation for excellence and for versatility — drinkable both young and old.
"He was the emblematic figure in the rebirth of Burgundy wine-growing," said Alain Hayat, owner of Paris' Parc Aux Cerfs restaurant and editor of the wine review The Red and the White.
"People seized his bottles as if they were treasures," Hayat said. "He had a gift, a touch, a feeling for wine. He was like one of those great composers that you only see once in a generation."
Jayer shunned many technical innovations in winemaking and disliked uniformity in wines. Instead, he used only minimal interventions in the winery to avoid masking the unique flavors and aromas of each particular vineyard. Quality was paramount: In the "terribly bad year" of 1975, he rejected almost half his crop to salvage his best wine, Rolin recalled.
The son of a winegrower, Jayer quit school at age 16 to work the fields after his two older brothers left to fight in World War II. Over the years, he purchased new plots, but never cultivated more than about 17 acres, Hayat said.
"He always said you have to make the least (wine) possible," Hayat said. "You have to do the right amount — no more, no less — and choose exactly the right moment" to harvest it. "And for that, you have to have an instinct."
Despite the enormous sums his bottles sold for, Jayer never let his reputation go to his head, according to Hayat.
"When people would start to deconstruct his wines, examining aromas and whatnot, he'd just say: 'That's all fine and good, but do you like it?'" Hayat recalled. "'That's what matters.'"
Funeral proceedings were expected to take place in Vosne Romanee on Tuesday.
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