Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Leroy, famous name in French wine, not just because Baron le Roy of châteauneuf-du-pape was instrumental in the development of the appellation contrôlée system, but also in the côte d’or. The négociant house Maison Leroy was founded in the small village of Auxey-Duresses in 1868 and its extensive warehouses there still house substantial stocks of fine, mature burgundy. Henri Leroy joined the family firm in 1919 and made his fortune exporting fortified wine from the Charentes to Germany between the two World Wars. This enabled him to buy a half share in the world-famous domaine de la romanée-conti (DRC), a share inherited equally by his two daughters Pauline Roch-Leroy and Lalou Bize-Leroy on his death in 1980.