Domaine D'Auvenay

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Domaine d’Auvenay is the third entity to the Leroy empire, named after Lalou Bize-Leroy’s home, an old hunting lodge outside Saint-Romain in the hills above Auxey-Duresses, which she shared with her husband Marcel until he passed away in 2004. This estate is incredibly important to Lalou, as it was her family's original domaine and therefore has the longest history of production associated with Leroy, predating both Domaine de la Romanée Conti and Domaine Leroy.

Domaine d’Auvenay was the family estate of the Leroy family which Lalou-Bize Leroy, along with her sister, inherited from her father in 1980, eight years prior to her purchasing what would go on to be Domaine Leroy.

In total the estate amounts to just under four hectares under vine covering 16 different appellations. The tiny size of these plots allied with the tiny yields produced on these biodynamic vineyards makes these wines exceptionally rare and expensive. In 2019 (one of the lowest yields ever seen in Lalou’s memory) each cuvee amounts to just one barrel of wine. Her Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet plot produced less than 100 litres.

IN THE VINEYARD

Alongside Domaine de la Romanée Conti and sister winery Domaine Leroy, d'Auvenay produces the most exclusive and highly sought after wines in Burgundy. Across the vintages and throughout their entire range, their tiny output and immense quality mean an almost perfect storm where supply can never meet demand. This means that inevitably initial allocations disappear into private cellars immediately on release.

There is an obsessive attention to detail at Domaine d'Auvenay as well as two elements beyond the biodynamic farming that are critically important: the pruning and the sorting. D'Auvenay is single-minded about low yields, small berries and retaining the health of their old vines. Their vines are easily recognisable since they avoids trimming the canopy, wanting to create the highest vines possible rather than hedging the vines which Lalou believes stresses the vine too much and affects the pollination the following year. Lalou admits the process is incredibly high maintenance and requires an extensive full time viticultural staff to manage. She has up to 60 staff working for her during the season across Leroy and d’Auvenay. Whilst her neighbours have warmed to her philosophy (initially many thought she was crazy), few have followed suit, not being able to justify the running costs of such methods. Out in the vineyard you can visibly see the miniscule yield size in a Lalou Bize-Leroy managed plot compared to its next-door neighbours. Low cropping means up to 4-5 times less fruit is produced than neighbouring vines.

No grape is more susceptible to over cropping than Pinot Noir and the minuscule yields produced in the Domaine d'Auvenay vineyard show the extremes that can be achieved with this temperamental grape. High concentration of small berries on a naturally low-tannin varietal enables highly concentrated fruit without any loss of finesse, perfume or silkiness. This is evident on tasting the wines where you can’t help but sense the concentration and persistence of flavour - a profile that is evident throughout the entire range. The difference between the cuvées is defined not by quality of fruit but by the distinct terroir and resultant fruit profile of each village, the wines’ structural development on the palate and the particular tannin profile from one vineyard to the next.

Biodynamic viticulture is strictly adhered to within the 23 hectares of old vines but Madame Leroy has not employed a winemaker or oenologist since 1993. She firmly believes that this is not a requirement for a domaine which has perfect fruit.

Since the 1990s, Lalou has been carrying out analysis on her soils, conscious of the effects of her neighbours using chemicals as another viticultural shortcut. Fortunately, the results she has received show that the impact from neighbouring plots on her own is marginal and her soils were in good shape and using biodynamic organic farming since establishing the domaine in 1988 has seen the soils improve year after year.

IN THE WINERY

The domaine manages two sorting tables with a staggering 40 people hand-sorting every batch. At d'Auvenay the entire production is made from 100% whole bunch grapes but the thick top of every cluster is hand cut and removed and every bunch size made uniform, with large bunches cut in half to create an even settling in the tank. The sorting is considered of such high importance that the process is never rushed and carried out by the same group of workers who have worked at the property for many years. If needs be, they hold back grapes in cool storage overnight during the busiest period of harvesting to allow adequate sorting of each batch that comes into the winery.

With this level of attention to detail it’s not surprising to find such purity in the wines. Famously Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy doesn’t identify herself as a winemaker; the wine makes itself. The challenge for her is providing the highest quality grapes to the winery and this is where all the effort is concentrated at the domaine.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER