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.

Lalou, a prodigious taster, rock climber, and glamorous dresser, had been co-director of the Domaine since 1975 and contributed considerably to its wine-making policy of quality above all. She also ran Maison Leroy, but Burgundy's steady move towards domaine bottling made her job of buying the finest raw materials for her négociant skills of élevage increasingly difficult. In 1988, helped by an £8 million investment from her Japanese importers Takashimaya, she succeeded in buying the Domaine Noëllat of vosne-romanée, an already fine canvas on which to paint her vision of the perfect domaine, soon renamed Domaine Leroy. This domaine now comprises more than 22 ha/54 acres of some of the Côte d'Or's finest vineyards, including a total of nearly 7 ha in nine different grands crus.

This effectively entailed setting up in competition with DRC, since the Domaine Leroy is based in the same village and, like DRC, has holdings in the grand cru richebourg. Unfettered by the commercial considerations of the dozen or so shareholders in DRC, Lalou was able to institute fully biodynamic viticulture, almost uneconomically low yields, and to invest in every possible wine-making luxury. The wines, which come from a much broader range of (mainly red wine) appellations than those of DRC, are extremely concentrated, expressing as definitively as possible their exact geographical provenance, as well as considerable oak sometimes.

Independently of her sister Pauline, Lalou owns the Domaine d'Auvenay, another biodynamically farmed enterprise founded in 1988, with total holdings of around 4 ha, including small plots in four different grands crus.