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Domaine Leroy

Burgundy, Beaune, France

  • 49
    of the 245 000
    wine producers
    of the world

  • Weather

    1° C Broken clouds

  • Time

    05:42 AM

  • Wine average?

    96 Tb

  • Country Ranking?

    66

  • Region Ranking?

    16

  • Popularity ranking?

    25

News

DOMAINE LEROY ‘NOT FOR SALE’

The owner of one of Burgundy’s leading estates, Domaine Leroy, has quashed rumours that the property was up for sale.

Earlier this month the rumour mill went into over-drive that Domaine Leroy and its négociant business Maison Leroy were on the verge of being sold, with luxury group LVMH apparently in the running to snap up the estate for quite astronomical sums.

It is, however, not true. In an email to Jancis Robinson MW (which was shared online), owner Lalou Bize-Leroy (pictured) made it quite clear that: “Following the rumours circling on the net, we can confirm that: neither Maison Leroy nor Domaine Leroy are for sale.”

A leading proponent of biodynamic viticulture and a former co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Bize-Leroy is regarded as one of Burgundy’s foremost winemakers and one of the most impressive not least because of her apparently boundless energy even now in her mid-eighties.

Given her age and no clear indication what will happen to her estate once she dies and the fact that big companies have been moving to purchase estates in the region, one can imagine how rumours of this sort get going.

For now, however, it is categorically not the case.

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History

François LEROY, winemaker, owner of vines at Auxey-Duresses (also where he lived). In addition, he owned vines at Meursault, Pommard, Chambertin, Musigny, Clos Vougeot, and Richebourg.

At this time he sold his wines through Comptoir des Proprietaires de la Cote-d’Or, in Beaune, as evidenced by a document listing prices dating from 1851, which quoted prices of his Richebourgs and Musignys. As he wished to enlarge his business, he founded Maison Leroy in 1868.

Francois Leroy’s son, Joseph Leroy, with the intelligent assistance of his wife, Louise CURTELEY, considerably enlarged the small business at Auxey-Duresses. In addition to making wines, he also made liquors and distilled alcohols. Their efforts were rewarded throughout the years with multiple gold medals and other grand prizes: in Brussels in 1897; Dijon in 1898, and La Rochelle in 1911, just to name a few.

 

Henri LEROY, son of Joseph and Louise, joined the family business in 1919. He diversified and extended it by creating a subsidiary branch that produced eaux-de-vie alcohol at Gensac La Pallue, near Cognac. He also established a state of the art distillery at Segonzac, in the heart of Champagne.

Henri Leroy was a friend of Edmond Gaudin de Villaine. De Villaine’s wife and brother-in-law, Marie-Dominique Chambon and Jacques Chambon, had inherited fully Domaine Romanée-Conti in October 1912. Due to the world-wide financial crises in the 1920s, the Domaine was for sale in a Notary’s office in Paris for many years; potential buyers were waiting further financial difficulties to exact the best price possible. Henry Leroy succeeds in persuading his friend not to sell the shares of Domaine Romanée-Conti.

Henri Leroy succeeded in convincing his friend but Jacques Chambon insisted on selling his parts and so sold them to Henri Leroy in 1942, which made Henri Leroy half owner of Domaine Romanée-Conti which is still held by the Leroy family today.

Henri Leroy devoted himself entirely to Domaine Romanée-Conti for the following forty years. He gave the best of himself to this Domaine; his intelligence, professionalism, his heart, and made it what it is today. He developed it into what is referred to today as the “fleuron de la Bourgogne” or the jewel of Burgundy.

He died in 1980, proud to have kept his promise to his friend Edmond Gaudin de Villaine: “Don’t sell your shares, you will see, we will make this a jewel.”

 

Lalou BIZE-LEROY, Henri’s daughter, joined the family business, Maison Leroy, in 1955. She became President-Directeur General en 1971. With great devotion and a lot of work, through constant tasting, she undertook to understand the essential characteristics of each “terroir” from each vineyard of Burgundy. For Maison Leroy, still today, she searches unceasingly to purchase the best wines, and for her the best is always yet to come.

Furthermore, each week, she would accompany her father to Domaine Romanée-Conti of which she became, along with Aubert de Villain, Co-Gerante from 1974 to 15 January 1992. Maison Leroy distributed Domaine Romanée-Conti’s wines world-wide (except the United States and Great Britain) until 15 Janaury 1992.

Takashimaya, owner of luxury department stores in Japan, distributor of wines of Maison Leroy since 1972 in Japan, enters the capital of the Maison Leroy in 1988 up to 1/3. It thus facilitates the acquisition of vineyards of Domaine Leroy.

READ ALSO ANTONIO GALLONI'S ARTICLE ABOUR DOMAINE LEROY!

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Vineyards

Domaine Leroy has 10 top Grand Crus in Burgundy (Chambertin/Latricières-Chambertin
/Clos de la Roche
/Musigny
/Richebourg
/Romanée-Saint-Vivant
/Clos de Vougeot
/Corton-Renardes
/ Batard Montrachet /Corton-Charlemagne). Some of the Domaine holdings are as small as 0.06ha, which limits production to a few hundred bottles for many of the wines and has helped the prices reach the top echelon in Burgundy.

 

Domaine Leroy’s golden rules of viticulture and vinification are:

regles-sol

SOIL:

  • Spreading “Maria Thun”-type compost and manure throughout the vineyards, as needed throughout the year.
  • Hand tilling, buttage, de-buttage with the lightest four wheeled-all terrain vehicles possible to avoid compacting the soil.

regles-plantes

regles-plantes

PLANTS:

  • Domaine Leroy does not replace an entire vineyard, ever. Only vine by vine as needed. The vines are replaced by young plants grown from buds of sister vines from the same vineyard. Using a visual selection to pick the most robust, promising bud, plants are grown and replaced in this way. Like a family, all the vines are related and of various ages growing together, living together.
  • Guyot pruning from mid-January to early April, only on days when the moon is passing the constellations: Sagittarius, Aries, Leo and if necessary, also Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra. A biodynamic wash is painted on each cut on the vine to speed healing and protect the open wound.
  • “Ebourgeonnage” (removing some buds so that the yield stays lower).
  • “Ejetonnage”, (removing the buds which grow on the trunk from the rootstock).
  • No clipping or trimming the end of the vines to avoid any kind of stress to the plant and also keep “l’apex” (last bud on the branch).
  • Removing any excess buds that are growing in between the node of the vine and any grapes that are growing after the first flowering.
  • “Palissage” (attaching the branches on a wire) of the end of the vines that have not been pruned.
  • Biodynamique wine growing also means using many teas and herbal mixtures chosen by the needs of each individual vine. Also taken into consideration is the condition of the soil, position of the moon, the sun, and the planets.

 

Robert M. PARKER from the “Guide Robert Parker French Wines”, 1997

“I have said it so many times that it may seem redundant, but if you missed it in my 1990 tome, Burgundy, Lalou Bize-Leroy stands virtually alone at the top of Burgundy’s quality hierarchy. Because she is a perfectionist, and because she has had the courage to produce wines from low yields and bottle them naturally, without fining or filtration, she has been scorned by many Burgundy negociants, and even by the proprietors of other top domaines. Not only are they jealous, they are frightened of Bize-Leroy because they fear increasing pressure for lower yields and bio-dynamic farming. Anyone who loves great Burgundy, must realize that her wines embarrass much of what is produced in Burgundy”

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Winemaking

At Domaine Leroy, the estate has been cultivating vines under biodynamic conditions since the beginning, as Lalou Bize-Leroy has always been a firm believer in biodynamie. Their viticulture methods are meticulous and very demanding involving rigorous pruning, replacing each individual dead vine stock with a selection massale from the Domaine’s plants. During the harvest, the grapes are put into small caissettes to avoid breaking the skins and oxidising the juice and all bunches thoroughly sorted are put into wooden fermentation vats, each vat is tailor-made to receive a specific parcel of vines, every processes of vinification is driven by the preservation of each terroir’s identity. The temperature of fermentation can reach 33C to allow more extraction of the flavours, and only indigenous yeasts are in operation. The wine is then transferred to casks with its lees, reds and whites are all matured in new oak barrels. Wines are racked in the middle of their élevage, and are bottled without fining or filtering.

Leroy wines are deeply coloured and impressively intense in their youth, with a depth and ripeness of fruit that few Burgundies achieve, they combine a vivid fruitiness with a considerable structure.

 

IN THE FERMENTATION CAVE:

  • Making the most careful selection by hand of the grapes when picking, the grapes are brought to the cave in small baskets in refrigerated trucks.
  • The grapes are then carefully sorted on two large sorting tables (not moving conveyor belts) with many eyes watching carefully, to choose only the best and healthiest grapes.
  • Fermentation in large wooden barrel without any de-stemming or crushing to avoid any oxidation and to preserve the precious native yeasts which are present on the skins of the grapes.
  • “Pigeage” (pushing down the cap).
  • “Remontage” consists of moving the fermenting juice from under the cap and bringing it on top of the cap.
  • Slow fermentation and a long maceration.

 

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Inside information

IN THE AGEING CAVE: After pressing the wine, the wines go down to the first underground cave. Here they stay until the end of their malo-lactic fermentation. After pouring the juice off of the lees, (“soutirage a la sapine”—when no pumps are used only gravity); the wines then go down to the second, deeper and colder cellar. This is where they stay until they are bottled.

 

Domaine Leroy owns:

9 Grands Crus :
Corton-Charlemagne — 43 a 15 ca,
Corton-Renardes — 50 a 14 ca,
Richebourg — 77 a 65 ca,
Romanée-Saint-Vivant — 99 a 29 ca,
Clos de Vougeot — 1 ha 90 a 69 ca,
Musigny — 27 a,
Clos de la Roche — 66 a 50 ca,
Latricières-Chambertin — 57 a 15 ca,
Chambertin — 50 a 03 ca.

8 Premiers Crus :
Volnay 1er Cru Santenots du Milieu — 35 a 10 ca,
Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru Les Narbantons — 81 a 2 ca,
Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Vignerondes — 37 a 80 ca,
Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Boudots — 1 ha 19 a 68 ca,
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brûlées — 27 a 13 ca,
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts — 2 ha 61 a 13 ca,
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes — 22 a 94 ca,
Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Les Combottes — 46 a 3 ca.

9 Villages : 
Auxey-Duresses “Les Lavières” — 23 a 45 ca,
Pommard “Les Trois Follots” — 6 a 82 ca,
Pommard “Les Vignots” — 1 ha 25 a 99 ca,
Nuits-Saint-Georges “Aux Allots” — 52 a 15 ca,
Nuits-Saint-Georges “Aux Lavières” — 69 a 16 ca,
Nuits-Saint-Georges “Bas de Combe” — 14 a 54 ca,
Vosne-Romanée “Genaivrières” — 1 ha 23 a 31 ca,
Chambolle Musigny “Les Fremières” — 34 a 99 ca,
Gevrey Chambertin — 10 a 95 ca.

Burgundy Appellation: 
Bourgogne Aligoté — 2 ha 57 a 91 ca,
Bourgogne Blanc — 35 a 19 ca,
Bourgogne Rouge — 74 a 11 ca,
Côteaux Bourguignons Blanc — 26 a 27 ca,
Côteaux Bourguignons Rouge — 52 a 29 ca.

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60 different wines with 374 vintages

Winemaking since 1868

  • Michel Bettane

    Wine writer
    “Domaine Leroy brings to mind the difference between good wines and the very best; it is, in fact, the absolute summit of Burgundy.”

  • Lalou BIZE-LEROY

    "Wine is inspired from the cosmos, it tastes of the world itself”
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