1985 Henri Jayer, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, Cros Parantoux

Burghound

The '85 Jayer Cros is a wine that I have had the pleasure of sampling on a number of occasions and it is abundantly clear that storage is so important. I've had 4 bottles in the last year, two in Burgundy, one at this tasting and another in California and all of them were different. Even more interesting is that of the two bottles drunk in France, one was the freshest and the other was decidedly tiring. Not surprisingly, the bottle drunk with Jayer himself was the freshest and best and that review is below: Tasted from a Burgundian cellar. Still quite vibrant on the nose with absolutely knock-out aromatic complexity of earth, leather and lot of Vosne spice plus still very fresh, round, rich, full flavors that are like silk on the palate. This is not as vibrant as it once was but it is still a lovely wine with excellent length. The structure in all bottles is now fully resolved and there is no reason to wait any longer though neither is there any rush to drink up. Other bottles have ranged from 91 to 93. Note that from magnum, the wine is fresher still and I liked it slightly better than from 750 ml and it will clearly age longer as well.