Domaine Leroy

The Leroy story begins in 1868, when François Leroy founded a négociant business — Maison Leroy — in Auxey-Duresses. His son Joseph expanded the portfolio and built close ties with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, eventually acquiring Henri Gouges's 50% stake in 1942 and establishing the Leroy family as co-owners of DRC.

In 1971, Joseph's daughter Lalou Bize-Leroy became managing director of Maison Leroy and served for years as co-manager of DRC. In 1988 she purchased the Charles Noellat vineyard holdings and used them as the foundation for a new entity — Domaine Leroy — devoted entirely to estate production from her own vineyards. That same year she stepped back from active co-management of DRC, though the Leroy family retained its approximately 25% stake.

Lalou Bize-Leroy remains the domaine's founder and driving force.

Domaine Leroy operates under full biodynamic certification (ECOCERT). Every parcel is farmed without synthetic pesticides or herbicides; vineyard tasks are timed to the biodynamic calendar. Yields are extreme — even on grand cru parcels, typically 10–15 hl/ha, among the lowest in Burgundy. Harvesting is done by hand in small teams with rigorous sorting. In the cellar: long élevage, no fining, no filtration, minimal extraction.

The consequence of these practices is a total annual production of roughly 40,000 bottles across all 22–23 ha — extraordinary scarcity for a domaine of this breadth.