Domaine Leroy

Domain Leroy  is arguably producing the greatest red Burgundy wines on the Cote d`Or at present. Lalou Bize-Leroy started out as a négociant, working for her family's Maison Leroy, which was founded by her father, Henri, in Auxey-Duresses.

Lalou Bize-Leroy also owns a quarter of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, where she was co-director until the other shareholders ousted her in 1992, partly because she had started a competing winery. In 1988 Lalou Bize-Leroy purchased the Domaine Charles Nöellat in Vosne Romanée and renamed it Domaine Leroy, which included the buildings and cellars which are now the domaine’s headquarters, and a wonderful array of vineyards including Richebourg, Romanée St Vivant, Clos de Vougeot, premiers crus Vignerondes and Boudots in Nuits and Beaumonts and Brulées in Vosne. The following year further vineyards were purchased from Domaine Philippe Remy, including Clos de la Roche, Latricières-Chambertin and Le Chambertin, while further holdings have been added since.

Lalou Bize-Leroy has 23 hectares of vines, mostly Premier and Grand Cru classified. In the vineyard Lalou practises biodynamism as well as severe pruning and crop-thinning. The result is ridiculously low yields.

Domaine Leroy is blessed with a heritage of ancient vines, in part because Lalou Bize-Leroy never grubs up and replants. Instead she replaces individual missing vines, from her own cuttings, but never too many at once in a given vineyard. These old vines combined with her training and pruning policy, restricting the bunches to just four per vine, explain in part the concentration of Leroy wines. The average yield across appellations and vintages at Domaine Leroy is around 16 hl/ha, according to Lalou.
 
In the cellar there is no winemaker (vinificateur) nor oenologist, André Porcheret not having been replaced when he left after the 1993 harvest. The grapes are of such quality that they do not need a winemaker! After rigorous deselection on the sorting tables, which employ as many people as there are pickers, the grapes are placed, stemmed and all, in wooden fermenting vats. After fermentation the wines are matured in new barrels from Cadus and François Frères.

All of her wines are amazingly concentrated and are the most highly prized and priced wines in Burgundy today.

Grands Crus
Corton Charlemagne 0.43ha, Corton Renardes 0.50ha, Richebourg 0.78 ha, Romanée St Vivant  0.99 ha, Clos de Vougeot 1.91 ha, Musigny 0.27 ha, Clos de la Roche 0.67 ha, Latricières Chambertin  0.57 ha, Chambertin 0.50 ha
 
Premiers Crus
Volnay Santenots 0.35 ha, Savigny Narbantons 0.81 ha , Nuits St Georges Les Vignerondes 0.38 ha, Nuits St Georges Les Boudots 1.20 ha, Vosne Romanée Aux Brulees 0.27 ha, Vosne Romanée Les Beaumonts 2.61 ha, Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes 0.23 ha, Gevrey Chambertin Les Combottes 0.46 ha.
 
Village Wines
Auxey Duresses Blanc, Pommard Les Vignots Pommard Les Trois Follots, Nuits St Georges Aux Allots, Nuits St Georges Aux Lavières, Nuits St Georges Au Bas de Combe, Vosne Romanée Les Genaivrières, Chambolle Musigny Les Fremières, Gevrey Chambertin.
A further 4.46ha cover such generic appellations as Bourgogne Aligoté, Bourgogne (blanc et rouge) and Bourgogne Grande Ordinaire (Blanc et Rouge).

Jasper Morris MW, author of Inside Burgundy