Henri Jayer

Henri Jayer (앙리 자이에, 1922–2006) was a world-renowned winemaker based in the village of Vosne-Romanée in Burgundy, France.

He dramatically improved the quality of Burgundy wine by avoiding chemical fertilizers and introducing innovative winemaking techniques such as cold maceration.

The wines he produced are now regarded, alongside Romanée-Conti, as among the rarest wines commanding the highest prices on the global auction market.

• Birth and background: He was born in 1922 into a winegrowing family in Vosne-Romanée (본-로마네).

• Education: During World War II, he studied oenology under Professor René Engel (르네 앙젤) at the University of Dijon, laying the foundations for his scientific approach to winemaking.

• Death: He died in Vosne-Romanée in 2006 at the age of 84.

• Early career: He gained practical experience by managing his parents' vineyard during the war and began producing wine under his own name in earnest in the 1950s.

• Collaboration with Méo-Camuzet: He gained renown by managing vineyards belonging to the Méo-Camuzet family under long-term leases.

• Retirement: He officially retired in 1995 and subsequently passed his vineyards and winemaking techniques on to his nephew, Emmanuel Rouget (에마뉘엘 루제).

« C’est d’abord a la vigne que se font les bons vins. Le bon vinificateur est d’abord un bon vigneron. »

To make good wine, one must first have good grapes. Likewise, before one can be an excellent winemaker, one must first be an excellent winegrower.


Henri Jayer (앙리 자이에) broke with the Burgundian conventions of his time and established the following innovative methods.

• Cold maceration: He pioneered a technique in which grape must is kept at a low temperature of approximately 10–15°C for several days before fermentation, extracting rich color and fruit aromas from the grape skins prior to alcoholic fermentation.

• 100% destemming: He removed the grape stems entirely to eliminate the harsh tannins they impart and pursued a silky-smooth texture.

• Natural farming: To preserve the vitality of the soil, he firmly rejected chemical fertilizers and pesticides and continued to plow the land.

• Unfiltered winemaking: To preserve the wine’s pure flavors, he minimized or omitted fining and filtration.

• Richebourg Grand Cru (리슈부르 그랑 크뤼): The highest-tier wine in Henri Jayer’s portfolio, with the most powerful and complex flavors among the wines he produced.

• Cros Parantoux Premier Cru (크로 파랑투 프리미에 크뤼): A legendary wine created when Henri Jayer personally reclaimed barren land abandoned after World War II, transforming it into a “Grand Cru among Premier Crus.”

• Échezeaux Grand Cru (에셰조 그랑 크뤼): One of his representative wines, displaying balanced elegance and deep fruit character.

• Wine auction record: At a private cellar auction held in Geneva in 2018, 1,064 bottles of wine sold for approximately $34.5 million (about 38 billion won at the time), setting a new world record.

• Epithets: He received the highest praise from the culinary world and critics, who called him the “God of Pinot Noir” and the “King of Burgundy.”