One could say Jean Lenoir was ‘born to wine’, starting life in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or on 23 September 1937, ‘the day of the grape harvest’, as he liked to say. From a Burgundy family dating back ten generations, both his accent and his taste for wine were a testament to this identity. His love for wine started with a Chassagne-Montrachet that was uncorked for his 18th birthday, and it remained his favourite wine for the rest of his life. Yet he didn’t immediately turn his passion for wine into a profession. Starting out as an educator, then becoming a cultural coordinator, it would take a discovery and considerable drive and determination to get up the courage to change his career at the age of 40 and bring his idea of Le Nez to life.
Motivated by his interest in wine, Jean Lenoir began to take classes in Beaune, in the heart of the winegrowing region of Burgundy, studying with oenologist and researcher Max Léglise, one of the pioneers of sensory analysis. It was then that he discovered the diversity and depth of the aromas contained in a glass of wine, as well as the difficulty of identifying them.
Jean Lenoir decided he wanted to introduce his new knowledge of wine to the world of culture, launching a series of introductory wine-tasting courses at the Chalon-sur-Saône Maison de la Culture, of which he was deputy director. This made him the first to bring wine into a cultural institution as a work of art, on an equal footing with music or painting.
The following year, Jean Lenoir received a vocational degree in oenology from the Dijon University Faculty of Sciences. He used a briefcase containing 120 aromas to teach introductory courses throughout France, with great success everywhere.
The first 1,000 copies of Le Nez du Vin 54 aromas were sold by subscription. A unique kit combining aromas and texts, it sparked the immediate interest and admiration of specialists and amateur enthusiasts the world over. During this decade, translations would be published in English, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.
In May of 1996, Jean Lenoir was invited to Colombia by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. The federation was convinced of the need to develop a tool similar to Le Nez du Vin to promote the olfactory qualities of coffee. Research was launched, culminating in the publication of Le Nez du Café 36 aromas in Colombia in October of the following year. The kit was published simultaneously in four languages (French, Spanish, English and German).
Wine Faults 12 aromas, previously only included in Le Nez du Vin 54 aromas, became available in a separate kit.
Release of Le Nez de l’Armagnac 12 aromas in collaboration with Hubert Richard and the Bureau National Interprofessionnel de l’Armagnac (BNIA).
The result of long and careful maturation, Le Nez du Whisky 54 aromas was launched in 2013, offering a wide range of aromas for discovering and learning to taste whiskies from around the world.
The Éditions Jean Lenoir production workshop moved in 2020 a few kilometres from its original location to brand new premises in Cassis. In the foothills of Provence’s back country, the new site is now found just a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean, between the calanques and Cap Canaille, the highest sea cliff in Europe.
To mark its 40th anniversary, Éditions Jean Lenoir published two new aroma kits.
Le Nez du Vin Oak Cask 12 aromas, first published in 2004, was reissued in a new bright green case. Completely updated, the book, the fact sheets and the selection of aromas are based on the most recent discoveries in history, forestry and chemistry.
Le Nez du Bourbon 12 aromas recounts the history of the most famous American whiskey in words and aromas.
On Jean Lenoir’s death, his daughter Viva Lenoir, who has been involved with the publishing house since 2014, took over. She is driven by the same passion and ambition: to allow as many people as possible to discover the amazing world of aromas, so essential to appreciating what we drink and a source of sensory pleasure.
Le Nez du Café is completely updated in partnership with World Coffee Research (WCR), increasing the selection of aromas from 36 to 60. The editorial content has been completely rewritten, taking into account the latest research on the genome of coffee, post-harvest treatments and coffee roasting.