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Wine Information
The negociant house Maison Leroy was founded in the small village of Auxey-Duresses in 1868 and its extensive warehouses there still house substantial stocks of fine, mature burgundy. Henri Leroy joined the family firm in 1919 and made his fortune exporting fortified wine from the Charentes to Germany between the two World Wars. This enabled him to buy a half share in the world-famous Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a share inherited equally by his two daughters Pauline Roch-Leroy and Lalou Bize-Leroy on his death in 1980.
In 1988, helped by an 8 million investment from her Japanese importers Takashimaya, she succeeded in buying the Domaine Noellat of Vosne-Romanee, an already fine canvas on which to paint her vision of the perfect domaine, soon renamed Domaine Leroy.
Lalou Bize-Leroystarted 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, she and investors had bought the vineyards and winery of Domaine Noëllat in Vosne-Romanée and renamed it Domaine Leroy.
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. All wines are concentrated and are the most highly prized and priced wines in Burgundy today.
Wiki
Vintage 1996
1996 VINTAGE in Burgundy
Maturity levels were in general high following a long hot summer. The wines from the famous Pinot Noir have an intense ruby red colour with lush red fruit aromas. They are wines that are comparable with the outstanding 88s and 89s. The whites are just as outstanding full-bodied with elegant vibrant Chardonnay fruit and sweet white flower and grilled nut aromas. These are wines that have the potential to age magnificently.
Each harvest we hope for three things, favorable weather conditions, healthy grape clusters and high sugar levels. The 1996 harvest provided all of these. April was particularly sunny and brought about an early bud burst (18th of April). Following this we had what can be described as a flash flowering which leads to good pollination, creating high yields.
Arean had low rainfall levels, a sturdy breeze (which kept rot to a minimum) and a long ripening period. These factors created high sugar levels and good acidity within the grapes. Cloud cover in August, combined with the coldest September on record meant that the sugar levels were exceptionally high and so was the acidity: 12% potential alcohol with 5.5g of acidity for Corton Reds and 13%-14% potential alcohol with 6g of acidity for Corton Charlemagne.
As a result, most are very pleased with the 1996 vintage. The reds have an intense color, good tannin structure and concentrated Pinot Noir flavor. The white wines are also impressive, containing plenty of rich fruit character, a crisp acidity and are already showing an attractive bouquet.