Domaine Leroy

15, rue de la Fontaine

21700 Vosne-Romanée
Tél. +33 (0)3 80 21 21 10

info@domaineleroy.com

Domaine Leroy, Great Burgundy wine.

Find out more about Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée, Côte de Nuits, Burgundy.

In 1942, Henri Leroy, son of Joseph Leroy, a liquorist and distiller in the Charentes region, bought half the vineyards of the emblematic and prestigious Romanée-Conti and dedicated himself to running the jewel of Burgundy until his death in 1980. Domaine Leroy, in Vosne-Romanée, is also, and perhaps above all, the story of Lalou Bize-Leroy, Henri Leroy's youngest daughter. This famous 93-year-old winegrower, a wine star in spite of herself and the papessa of biodynamic viticulture in Burgundy, has been with the family business since 1955. From 1974 to 1992, she was co-manager of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti alongside the great Aubert de Villaine. In 1988 and 1989, she bought vineyards from Domaine Noëllat and Domaine Philippe Rémy. This purchase and merger gave birth to the excellent Domaine Leroy and its iconic wines.

A Burgundian history with roots in the Charentes region.

Domaine Leroy might never have seen the light of day had it not been for the creation of the Leroy trading house in 1868, the brainchild of Auxey-Duresses winegrower and merchant François Leroy. At the time, François Leroy already owned vineyards in Musigny, Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Richebourg, Pommard and Meursault. His descendant, Joseph Leroy, liquor maker and distiller, developed the family business with his wife Louise Curteley. Then it was the turn of his son Henri (3rd generation), who joined the domaine in 1919. Henri was very committed to the business, and considerably boosted the Leroy brand and the family trading house.  

He also founded a distillery at Segonzac in the Charentes region, and set up a brandy division to develop the distillery business in the Charentes region, at Gensac La Pallue. In 1942, Henri Leroy, who still ran the Leroy family trading house - whose business was to buy wine (supplies) from brokers and mature it in his own cellars on the Côte de Nuits - acquired, on behalf of the trading house, half of the shares in Romanée-Conti, an iconic estate already enjoying international renown at the time. He remained involved with Romanée-Conti until his death in 1980.

But Domaine Leroy as a producer, as we've known it since the late 80s, is above all the business of Henri Leroy's youngest daughter: the famous and charismatic “doyenne” of Burgundy winegrowing, Lalou Bize-Leroy. In 1955, when she was just 23, she joined the family business as manager alongside her father. From 1974 to 1992, the “Grande Dame of Burgundy”, like her father, took over co-management of the famous Domaine de La Romanée-Conti a few decades later, alongside another Burgundy legend, Aubert de Villaine. Madame Bize-Leroy, who still holds a 25% stake in the world's greatest wine, has also been CEO of the family trading house, Maison Leroy, since 1971. The Domaine Leroy wine estate, as a producer, was created by Lalou Bize-Leroy, with the help of her Japanese distributor Takashimaya (who distributes the wines of her trading house in Japan), when the latter bought the vineyards of Domaine Noëllat and then Domaine Philippe Rému in the Côte de Nuits in 1988 and 1989, respectively, thus forming Domaine Leroy. At 93, and just as in his early days, this force of nature, with his incredible energy and rarely encountered high standards, is still involved in his estate and continues to talk to his vines as if they were his children. By dint of stubbornness and hard work, this wine legend quickly reached the top of her game, as she was an avid mountain climber (an activity she practiced regularly with her late husband, Marcel Bize). She has lost none of her passion for her native Burgundy and for the high-flying profession of winemaker that she has practiced since 1955, on her land in Auxey-Duresses.

The singular, highly personal approach of the astonishing Lalou Bize-Leroy.

Madame Bize-Leroy has forged a solid reputation as a woman of character and strong convictions. She is an example that many follow, not only in France but also abroad. A pioneer of biodynamic viticulture in Burgundy - after meeting the Loire's “pope” of biodynamic viticulture, Nicolas Joly (owner of the famous Coulée de Serrant), in the 80s - her approach very early on shook up a Burgundy which, let's face it, was at the time more conservative than innovative, but which has nonetheless boasted a good number of estates practicing this virtuous viticulture over the past few decades. Why biodynamic viticulture? For Madame Bize-Leroy, “the vine is more than a plant. It's a living being. It's like a person. It wants to be happy. It requires a lot of care, it's capricious, it doesn't let itself be managed like a herd of cows. So, quite naturally, Lalou Bize-Leroy has turned to biodynamic viticulture, rejecting all herbicides and pesticides, and making her own natural fertilizers and vine teas.

The “papess” of Burgundian biodynamic viticulture, with her empirical approach since her beginnings in 1955, without lacking a solid background, believes she is still learning from the living every day; so much so that she still considers herself, without any false modesty, an apprentice in the vineyard despite her substantial baggage. In fact, Lalou was “thrown” into the magic cauldron of viticulture and wine very early on. “It's a fact that her father, Henry, was a great winegrower. It has to be said that her father, Henry Leroy, initiated her from an early age. And that's saying something, because Lalou had her first experience of the divine beverage practically from birth. Legend or truth? More like the truth! According to Lalou, her father used to put a drop of Musigny on her baby tongue. Later, at her parents' home in Meursault, when she was supposed to be taking a nap as a toddler, she would wait for her parents to leave the table, go downstairs to the dining room and finish all the glasses on the sly. Lalou has been a wine lover ever since she was a little girl. The rest is history: Lalou has become Burgundy's most emblematic female figure, but also an example, even the archetype of success, even if the legendary winemaker, legendary in spite of herself, denies having succeeded, as she is constantly striving for perfection.

The “Grande Dame of Burgundy” has always had a special relationship with her vines. With the help of her right-hand man Frédéric Roemer (property manager who has been at Lalou's side for some twenty years), she pampers her 21.99-hectare vineyard (18.13 hectares for Pinot Noir and 3.86 hectares for Chardonnay and Aligoté) with particular care. She treats her parcels as individual entities, talking to her vines and grape varieties as if she were talking to her loved ones. The grape varieties in question are, on the one hand, Pinot Noir, which accounts for 100% of the red plots (normal, this is Burgundy, land of the single grape variety), a variety that Lalou knows by heart since she was born with it; and, on the other hand, Chardonnay, which occupies 29% of the white plots but, contrary to all expectations (compared to the general trend in Burgundy) is well down on the historic Aligoté grape variety (71% of Domaine Leroy's vineyard). It's rare enough to mention it, but Aligoté, when well grown, produces whites of great singularity and depth. Few, like Domaine Leroy, are passionate about it. And that's a shame, because Aligoté is firmly anchored in the DNA of Burgundy whites.

With such singularities, it's not surprising that the wines Lalou Bize-Leroy makes are endowed with a strong personality and signature, each wine being identical to the individuality of the parcels, as she likes to remind us. In the end, it's easy to understand why the domaine's wines breathe the spirit of the place where they were born, and why Lalou's wines are snapped up at bargain-basement prices by all the great lovers of Burgundy's great wines.

Domaine Leroy and its prestigious terroirs.

Domaine Leroy boasts a number of great terroirs in prestigious climats. The appellations and climats in question are head-turning and dizzying. 9 Grands Crus, 6 Premiers Crus, 9 villages and a few generic Burgundies make up the estate's sinews of war. With its 21.99 hectares, the estate is present in both Côte de Beaune (10 hectares) and Côte de Nuits. While Domaine Leroy has parcels in Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru and Grand Cru, Musigny Grand Cru, Clos Vougeot, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Aux Boudots” and Volnay Santenots, some parcels are perhaps the estate's best-known, such as Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru les Beaux Monts, Vosne-Romanée Genaivrières, Chambertin, Musigny, Pommard Les Vignots, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Narbantons, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and a parcel of Auxey-Duresses blanc.

All these components of the Leroy vineyard have been entirely biodynamic since 1988. The resulting wines are a thing of beauty. It's haute couture, tailor-made for these plots, which barely reach yields of 15 to 20 hl/hectare. In fact, 15 hectolitres is the ideal maximum yield that the owner sets for herself. That's no more than 5 bunches per vine. In the end, only 8,000 bottles are produced per year. An uneconomic yield, you might ask? For many estates, probably, but not for Domaine Leroy. It's deliberate, and Madame Bize-Leroy has consciously thought it through. Beyond 15 or 20 hectolitres, as Lalou says, “it can be good, very good even, but you have to be careful not to turn the vine into a ‘cash cow’. You have to listen to it at all times. And the result is remarkable: exclusively hand-harvested grapes with unrivalled concentration, sensual aromas and flavors, sumptuous mouthfeel, and wines of exemplary complexity and consistency - and this has been the case for decades.

It should be noted that the Domaine's wines are not to be confused with the wines produced (albeit with the same high standards of quality) by the trading house. In fact, the labels clearly indicate the difference. In the case of Leroy wines, the words “négociants à Auxey-Duresses” appear at the bottom of the label. On the other hand, when the cuvées come from Domaine Leroy, the words “Proprietors in Vosne-Romanée” are clearly indicated, and the bottles used, which are more massive and heavier (“Burgundian” type, i.e. thicker in the glass), all have waxed necks.

Lalou Bize-Leroy is an outstanding winemaker and taster who speaks to her vines and her wines. Her unconventional and singular approach to the vine is gentle and full of common sense. She prefers to intervene as little as possible, preferring above all to listen to nature and the living, but above all to the terroir. Indeed, terroir must be respected if we are to achieve in our wines the most subtle expressions and nuances of the local taste. Biodynamic viticulture, of which she was a pioneer in Burgundy, is also part of this common sense approach to winemaking, which considers that everything is alive. A form of animism in the vineyard. So much so, in fact, that certain practices, such as summer trimming of the vines - which many still do, even if some wonder why they do less - have been forbidden at Domaine Leroy since 1988. For Lalou, trimming the vines makes no sense and is an act of violence against the vines and the natural laws that govern them. She believes, even if it makes her look like an “enlightened person”, that trimming is neither normal nor a harmless act for the vines. But she prefers her vines to flourish without the stress of human intervention, and to express themselves freely with large stems. The result, she says, is that the vines are beautiful and happy, and give back a hundredfold when you see the quality of the wines, which suffer no drift.

But the owner is never satisfied, considering that from one year to the next, she can always do better. This perpetual quest for the grail, and this natural ability to question oneself easily, with the posture of true humility in the face of the law of nature, is most respectable and admirable. At Domaine Leroy, we strive for excellence first and foremost, even if it means not hesitating - and this is courageous from an economic point of view - to downgrade a wine to generic Burgundy if the vintage doesn't live up to the demands of the climates and parcel classifications. This is what happened in 2004, for example, when Lalou Bize-Leroy realized that the grapes from some of her parcels were not ripening as expected. Not everyone can make the decision to downgrade their wine, even if it means losing out financially. But Domaine Leroy can't afford to get bogged down in a policy of volume at all costs. To do so would run counter to the philosophy and approach that Lalou Bize-Leroy has followed since the late 80s. For the character of Burgundy's oldest winegrower is such that excellence comes at a price (not just the price of the bottle), and that price is sacrifice when necessary.

The art of taking a backseat to nature.

Just as she does in the vineyard, Lalou Bize-Leroy, “straight in her boots” and consistent with herself, applies a self-effacing method in the cellar. Her approach to winemaking is singular, as for example the non-de-stemming of the grapes. Here too, it's a question of intervening as little as possible during vinification and ageing, without neglecting the fundamental actions. It's all a question of moderation, of letting things happen while keeping an eye on things, and acting only when necessary. No more, no less! In practical terms, the charismatic winemaker relies on her skills and instincts (which she does very well) without succumbing to the “all-oenology” approach. The Domaine Leroy cellar is a showcase where the temperature is between 12 and 14 degrees, which suits the wines perfectly. Without refusing the advice of the oenologists, Lalou leads the way. She's there, watching, listening, smelling, understanding and tasting the batches during fermentation as well as the wines once they've been poured, without forgetting to carry out “ouillages” (two a week) to protect the wine from oxidation. And just as she does with her vines, she talks to her wines, wines that are made naturally, without having to touch them too much, or at least as little as possible. But intervening as little as possible doesn't mean not taking care of these treasures in “pièces” (228-liter Burgundy barrels). The wines are not filtered, and of the 8,000 bottles produced “year in, year out”, only a fraction are marketed. The wines are marketed 4 to 5 years after bottling (a marketing principle similar to that of certain Italian wines such as Chianti Classico Riserva): a way of better controlling the flow and, above all, of ensuring that the wines arrive at a time when they can begin to be consumed, even though these wines are made to be kept for a long time.

Domaine Leroy's signature wine.

The Leroy estate boasts no fewer than 26 wines, each with its own character, but all expressing Lalou Bize-Leroy's unique and fascinating personality. As with her vines, Lalou sees her wines as unique personalities, like children with their own moods, each with their own exclusive and therefore different story to tell. Does she have any preferences? Could parents with several children love one child more than another? It happens. As for Lalou, yes, she does have some preferences and seems to value some of her wines more than others, such as her Musigny, Nuits-saint-Georges and Saint-Vivant. But that doesn't mean she hates her Chambertin or her Richebourg, or any of the others for that matter. After all, having preferences in no way means denying the rest.

The wines it produces, which are rightly considered some of the world's finest, have one thing in common: remarkable depth and exemplarity. At first glance, one might be tempted to think that only aesthetes can appreciate them. But it's not only aesthetes who are enthusiastic about these wines. Many wine-lovers hope to acquire them, but low volumes are an obstacle to satisfying the greatest number. To drink Domaine Leroy (and still have the means to do so) is to become part of Lalou's world, as if you were one of her close friends, to converse with her, and therefore to feel fortunate and privileged, for the Lady of Burgundy is such a luminary.

The great lady of Burgundy, probably France's greatest winemaker and the equal of the late Henri Jayer, the “Prince of Pinot Noir” (who passed away in 2006), has her own recipe for appreciating her wines, which would anger more than a few “critics” and specialist tasters who are often fond of semantic flights of lyricism. Lalou encourages anyone lucky enough to drink her wines, or any other wine for that matter, not to let themselves be overwhelmed by pompous, graphic or overly abstract vocabulary, at the risk of missing out on the nectar. For her, there's no doubt that wines speak for themselves, without the need for a human interpreter. Although she respects them, she generally deplores the fact that commentators spoil everything with their tasting notes. And she points out with delightful aplomb that “we interpreters are often fools in the exercise of amateur or professional tasting”. On the contrary, for her, tasting is listening, like listening to a concert where it would be pointless and clumsy to comment instead of concentrating on the sound. You have to listen to the wine in an almost religious contemplation, in other words, in “silence”, to understand its presence, its vibration, its music. In this respect, Lalou Bize-Leroy readily admits that wine is music.

And so, because there's no question of getting angry with the delightful Grande Dame of Burgundy, and out of respect, we won't comment on any of her wines in this presentation, at the risk of spoiling the profound nature of these wines with words that stray far from the meaning, the discourse, the story that Domaine Leroy wines have to tell us. But let's retain the essentials, as a sort of vade mecum which, moreover, is sufficient in itself to convince us of the obvious. Whatever the color (in this case, the grape variety), appellation or climate, there's no doubt that Domaine Leroy wines are brilliant, delicate, pure, brilliant, expressive, elegant, refined, prolix, racy, vibrant and ultimately unique, to the point where they have become icons of Burgundy and the paradigm of great wine, along with Romanée-Conti, in its international dimension.

The great Domaine Leroy vintages:

1989,1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023