Iconic and incomparable, Domaine Leroy was christened in 1988 following the purchase of the vineyards of Domaine Charles Noëllat by the owner of Auxey-Duresses-based négoçiant Maison Leroy (also part owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti), Madame ‘Lalou’ Bize-Leroy. The domaine was enlarged the following year with the inclusion of vineyards from Domaine Phillippe Remy. Today around 40,000 bottles are produced annually from 21 hectares of vines across over 25 appellations.
Bize-Leroy set the bar very high from the outset, introducing bio-dynamic farming across all of the acquired vineyards (the domaine was recently accredited for organic, but not as yet biodynamic, viticulture), cultivating at very low yields, and demanding the highest standards of grape quality. Any lucky visitor to the estate’s home of Les Genaivrières comes away with the sense that every bunch has been brought one at a time in from the vineyards held in silk gloves.
Bud pruning is severe, limiting the number of bunches on each vine. The manner of training the vines was deemed extraordinary at the start – shooting canes are tied up-and-over rather than being cut back, following naturalist principles – but has now been copied by other ‘bio’ adherents.
Winemaking is also hardly classic or conventional, grapes being meticulously sorted then simply put into wooden vats, stems and all, then aged in oak barrels. Madame Bize-Leroy feels that healthy grapes do not, apparently, require the services of a winemaker.
According to those lucky enough to have tasted the wines the results are compelling in the extreme. Production of each label is small - barely 600 bottles (under two barrels) of the pinnacle Musigny Grand Cru – are made annually, and a carefully managed programme of staggered releases, sometimes years after the harvest, in small numbers ensures permanent scarcity in the market. Fortunate are those with direct allocations as prices swiftly rise in the secondary market. Virtually no individual bottle, irrespective of appellation, is on sale currently below £1000, and the greatest of the great, Musigny from a year such as 2015, has changed hands for upwards of 100 times that figure.
Principal vineyard holdings (2024)
COte de Nuits
Grands Crus
- Richebourg and Romanée-Saint-Vivant in Vosne-Romanée
- Clos de Vougeot in Vougeot
- Musigny in Chambolle-Musigny
- Clos de la Roche in Morey-Saint-Denis
- Latricières-Chambertin and Chambertin in Gevrey-Chambertin
Premiers Crus
- Gevrey-Chambertin Les Combottes
- Vosne-Romanée Aux Brulées and Les Beaux Monts
- Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes
- Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Boudots and Les Lavières
Village appellations
- Gevrey-Chambertin
- Vosne-Romanée Les Genaivrières
- Chambolle-Musigny Les Frémieres
- Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Allots and Vignerondes
Other wines
- Bourgogne Aligoté
COte de Beaune
Grands Crus
- Corton-Charlemagne and Corton-Renardes in Aloxe-Corton
Premiers Crus
- Volnay Santenots du Milieu
- Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Narbantons
Village appellations
- Pommard les Vignots Auxey-Duresses
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