Domaine Leroy – The Bottled 2016s
BY ANTONIO GALLONI |
“Am I going too fast?” Lalou Bize-Leroy asks as she takes me through her bottled 2016s. Not a chance. One of the first things I observed when I started visiting the domaine years ago was Lalou’s intense pace, which remains pretty much the same today. “I like to taste quickly,” she adds. “With wines its either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is no middle ground. Just like people.” That insight is one of many that emerge over the course of this remarkable survey of the 2016s.
The cellar at Domaine Leroy, Vosne-Romanée
“It is a tiny, tiny crop, even smaller than 2012,” Lalou Bize-Leroy explained. “We had frost, and then some mildew in certain sites that required considerable work in the field.” As always, the 2016s were done with 100% whole clusters and aged in 100% new French oak. The wines were bottled between the end of 2017 and early 2018, which, is on the earlier side of things by present-day standards in Burgundy, especially at the Grand Cru level.
Given the tiny production, I expected the 2016s to be even richer than they typically are. Instead, I was completely blown away by the elegance and finesse of the wines. The Leroy 2016s are striking, transparent Burgundies that pulse with energy and the expression of site that Bize-Leroy cherishes above all else.
“Am I going too fast?” Lalou Bize-Leroy asks as she takes me through her bottled 2016s. Not a chance. One of the first things I observed when I started visiting the domaine years ago was Lalou’s intense pace, which remains pretty much the same today. “I like to taste quickly,” she adds. “With wines its either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is no middle ground. Just like people.” That insight is one of many that emerge over the course of this remarkable survey of the 2016s.
