Wine Asylum

Posted by Joe Dressner on October 01, 2000 at 20:57:57:

In Reply to: Hey Mr. High-roller!! posted by Eden Mylunsch on October 01, 2000 at 20:45:59:

I don't believe these wines are produced to be sold and bought. They are there to be tasted; and you have to land an invite to the Domaine itself to be part of the tasting. Someone I know was invited several months ago to a 10 year tasting of Leroy Grand Crus. The invite was from Madame Leroy and my colleague found the experience sublime. Otherwise, I can't say I know anyone who actually buys the wines, vintage after vintage. I knew people who bought lots of 85s, 90s and 91s, but honestly, I don't know who buys them in America these days. I've 'anecdotally' tasted through several vintages, but never systematically.

I have to admit I find it all alarming. If Madame Leroy is making the benchmark Burgundies of our day and no one actually tastes them outside of a rarefied circle, then are they the benchmark Burgundies of our day? Does a tree fall if....

I suspect her prices are somewhat fair, oddly enough. Given the vineyard word, yields, and the firm's policy of stocking old vintages, my guess is that profit margins are better in Napa than at Leroy. At the same time, I suspect she is not hurting financially.

Systematic yields from 5 to 20 hecto/hectares are not viable for a normally functioning domaine. It is an extremely expensive proposition to limit yields to such an extreme state and only Leroy can pull off this sort of thing. More power to her!