Lalou Bize-Leroy, known as the "Queen of Burgundy", has both served as co-head of the famous Domaine de La Romanee Conti (DRC) and created the Domaine Leroy that rivals the DRC. Today, this article will take you closer to the legendary life of this outstanding woman.
Lalou Biz-Le Birch (Image: www.domaine-leroy.com)
Excellent qualifications
Born in 1932 into the first prominent vintner family in Burgundy, her great-grandfather Francois Leroy owned his vineyards in Auxey-Duresses, Meursault and other places, and in 1868 established the wine merchant company Maison Leroy. Later, under the careful management of Lalou's grandfather and father, the wine business of the Le Hua family also expanded step by step, and his father Henri Leroy bought 50% of the shares of The Romani Kandi Winery in 1942, and in the next 40 years of his life, he made great contributions to the development of Romani Kandi, and also realized his desire to make it a "treasure" of Burgundy.
Image source: www.domaine-leroy.com
Henry had been paying attention to cultivating Lalou's wine tasting ability, and Lalou lived up to her father's expectations, showing her talent for wine tasting, and soon developed the ability to select high-quality wines from different wine samples from different growers. All of this laid a solid foundation for her subsequent career in the wine industry.
Break discrimination and stick to principles
In 1955, at the age of 23, Laru began to work at the family's Le Hua Estate, and in 1971 officially took over the family's wine merchant business, becoming the chairman and chairman of le Hua Estate. In Burgundy in the 1950s, Lalou obviously faced more obstacles to entering the wine industry as a young woman than men, but she did not know how to retreat, but believed that "being a woman does not mean anything different". Throughout her career, Laru has been unafraid of challenges, principled and broken with conventional wisdom. For example, in the years when Burgundy wines were of poor quality, Lalou bought almost no wine, and even though it made the family's wine business difficult, she never compromised on quality.
Burgundy vineyards (Image: www.chateau-meursault.com)
In addition to the accident of managing the family's wine merchant, because the family held a 50% stake in Romani Conti, Lalu was the co-owner of the winery from 1974. During her tenure at Romani Conti, she actively promoted the vineyard towards organic cultivation, improved the quality of the winery's wines, and used the sales channels of the Le Chau Estate to sell these wines to many parts of the world. In 1992, Lalu left the winery because of disagreements with others over the commercial decisions of the Romani Conti wines of the 1988 vintage.
Romani Conti wines
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By the time she left the Romani Kande winery, Laru was already in her prime, and her experience and growing older in Romani Kandy had not dampened her fighting spirit. While Lalou had not yet left Romani Kande, between 1988 and 1989 she bought two wineries and several other plots of land in Burgundy and established Domaine Leroy. Then, from 1989 to 1995, Lalu built a second winery, Domaine d'Auvenay, through continuous acquisition of plots. After leaving Romani Kande, she devoted more energy to the construction of these two wineries, and carried out a series of renovations to make them one of the most famous in Burgundy.
Le Birch Vineyards (Image: www.domaine-leroy.com)
Believing in animism, Lalou practiced biodynamics in all of her vineyards, banning any fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc., because she believed that "these things will kill plants and life in the soil." Although her practices were controversial at first and cost the winery most of its harvest in the 1993 vintage, when the vineyard was threatened with mold, the 1993 wines produced by Le Birch were praised for their excellent quality. In the following vintages, the quality of the wine presented by the winery remained good. Today, Château Le Birch is also at the top of the 2021 Power 100 list of wine brands selected by the London International Wine Exchange (Liv-ex), producing wines of low quality and high price, which have become the signature wines of Burgundy, comparable to the famous Romani Candy wines.
In addition to Le Birch, biodynamics has also been a great success at Château Ovina, where the wines produced not only made it one of the top ten wines on the Wine-Searcher website in 2021, but also at the top of the site's list of the most expensive wines, with excellent quality and popularity speaking for themselves.
As a legend in the wine world, Lalou has left a strong mark on the wine development of Burgundy with extraordinary talent and vision, indomitable courage and perseverance. Her talent and talent are beyond replication, but her persistence and courage are worth learning from.