Domaine Leroy
About Domaine Leroy
It’s almost impossible to put into words the significance of Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy in the world of wine. Burgundy authority Clive Coates MW posits that “the greatest domaines of Burgundy today must be those under the control of Lalou Bize: The Domaine Leroy and her own Domaine d’Auvenay”. Having started out as a négociant for the family’s Maison Leroy in the 1950s, Lalou and investors bought the vineyards and winery of Domaine Charles Noëllat in Vosne-Romanée in 1988 and renamed it Domaine Leroy. “At Domaine Leroy, we have been cultivating our vines under biodynamic conditions since 1989,” says Lalou. “This means that our wines are free of all chemical treatments, weed killers, pesticides, fungicides, insecticides and artificial fertilisers. Instead, we have stepped back in time and use cosmic rhythms to ensure correct soil tilling and recuperation as well as effective vine care through all phases of the year’s cycle.”
Biodynamic producerThe wines are magnificently impressive too. The old vines have been jealously preserved. The yield is cut to the quick and reduced even further by the domaine’s insistence on cultivation according to biodynamic principles. There is no destemming, a long cuvaison and plenty of new oak. The results are breathtakingly intense, pure and concentrated, and curiously quite different in style from those at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, despite the approach being superficially similar. Clive Coates MW, The Wines of Burgundy
About Lalou Bize-Leroy
Lalou Bize-Leroy started out as a négociant working for Maison Leroy, which was founded in Auxey-Duresses in 1868 by her great grandfather, François. Since then, her fame has spread right across the world of fine wine as part-owner and former co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. She is also the formidable driving force behind Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay, this latter her personal domain based in Saint-Romain. In 2015 she celebrated her 50th vintage of choosing the wines for the family négociant business, and continues to show the prowess and judgment that earned her the moniker “Guardian of Great Wines”.