WineInk: Nicolas-Jay’s journey
Nicolas-Jay/Courtesy photo
“When I was in the music business, they called me the ‘wine guy,'” Jay Boberg told an assembled crowd of Roaring Fork Valley pinot-philes at the recent Pinot Posse dinner at Free Range Kitchen in Basalt. Boberg was there to pour his acclaimed Oregon sourced Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir wine at the dinner.
Many didn’t get the music business reference until it was explained that before he became a full-time wine producer, he was once co-founder of one of the most significant record labels in music history: I.R.S records.
“I signed a lot of acts that you’ve never heard of,” he said, “but I signed some you may have, like REM, the Go Go’s, Mary J. Blige, and a few others.”
With each mention of the artists’ names, the crowd, loosened by the prodigious pours of pinot that they had throughout dinner, let loose with hoots and hollers. Such is the benefit of being associated with great bands.
His legacy in the music industry is to be respected. But for Boberg, it is his prestigious second act in wine that currently consumes his passion, time, and attention. Along with partner and French-winemaking legend Jean-Nicolas Méo, Boberg is the proprietor of the eponymous Nicolas-Jay. Méo is the scion of a family that owns Domaine Méo Cazumet, one of the most iconic properties in Burgundy, located in Vosne-Romanée in the heart of the Côte de Nuits. The two have been friends for 30 years and partners since the 2010s.
The guests at the Pinot Posse dinner were treated to the 2022 Nicolas-Jay L’Ensemble Pinot Noir. One of the winery’s premier releases, the wine is a blend of the best barrels, hand-selected by Méo from 10 vineyard sites, where Nicolas-Jay sources its wines, including its own Bishop’s Creek estate vineyard in the Yamhill Carlton appellation of the Willamette Valley. All the wines are sourced from vineyards that are either bio-dynamic, organic, or LIVE certified.
The L’Ensemble showed beautifully with cherry and raspberry fruits dominating. But the real attraction for me was the silky texture of the wine. Structured, with bright acidity, and still tight tannins in these early days, there was an obvious sense that the wine will evolve with time. Those at the Posse dinner who bought a case of the L’Ensemble will have a wine of substance to look forward to for years to come.
Nicolas-Jay has quickly emerged as a celebrated producer in the Oregon wine landscape having released their first vintage in 2014, just over a decade ago. But it has been a long time in the making.
The relationship between Boberg, the music entrepreneur, and Méo, the winemaker, dates back to 1988, when both were still developing in their respective careers. Méo was a student at the University of Pennsylvania for a year, and Boberg visited his sister, who was also a student there. The two met and hit it off, beginning what has become an enduring friendship. While Boberg was influencing the music industry, he was also nurturing a growing relationship with wine and some significant wine figures. At the Free Range dinner, he told me, “I got to know Jim Clendenen (A legendary Santa Barbara winemaker who founded Au Bon Climat) and developed a relationship with (Berkeley, California, wine importer) Kermit Lynch. They encouraged my love for pinot noir.”
While Méo was in Burgundy guiding his family Domaine and learning from the Burgundian icon Henri Jayer, Boberg was running the music giant MCA Universal and expanding his wine knowledge. He even had a vineyard property in the Napa Valley for a while.
“It was on Tubbs Lane, not far from Chateau Montelena. We sold the fruit and just made a little wine for ourselves,” he said.
Both men had a long history of drinking wines from Oregon, with Boberg’s experience going back to 1983 and Méo having attended the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) in 1991. So it was that in 2012, when the two decided the time was right to team up, they chose Oregon’s Willamette Valley as the place. They began exploring and tasting at the great vineyards in the region.
“We both knew that if we were going to do this, that we had to have great fruit,” said Boberg. “Jean-Nicolas was not going to make wine unless it was world-class.”
Nicolas-Jay began buying fruit and made its initial wines at the iconic Oregon producer Adelsheim before moving production to Sokol Blosser. Today, the wines are made in their own gravity flow winery at their estate in the Dundee Hills near the town of Newberg in a converted barn, which also hosts the tasting room.
In addition to the aforementioned L’Ensemble wine, Nicolas-Jay produces single vineyard designate pinot noir wines from Bishop Creek, Nysa, Momtazi, and Temperance Hill vineyards, as well as a collection of chardonnays. Here in Aspen, Nicolas-Jay wines are available on a number of local lists, including: Element 47, the Caribou Club, Catch Steak, Steakhouse 316, and the Monarch.
Today, there is no mistaking it: Jay Boberg is truly a “wine guy,” and, with his friend and partner Méo, he is creating a new legacy in Oregon wine.
Voters choose Referendum 2, and say no to Referendum 1
Aspen voters have decided the fate of two referendums impacting the Entrance to Aspen. Referendum 2 passed with 1,369 votes in favor and 1,276 against, while Referendum 1 failed, with 952 votes in support and 1,652 opposed.
