IN 1992, LALOUX BEAD-LEROY WAS REMOVED AS CO-PRESIDENT OF DOMAINE DE LA ROMANÉE-CONTI S.A. (DRC) DUE TO HIS BLOOD SISTER'S VOTING RIGHTS.
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MAISON LEROY WAS FOUNDED IN 1868 IN THE SMALL BURGUNDIAN VILLAGE OF AUXCAIS-DURESS, WHERE THE THIRD GENERATION HEAD OF THE FAMILY, HENRI LEROY, AMASSED HIS WEALTH BETWEEN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II BY EXPORTING COGNAC BRANDY TO THE GERMAN COMPANY ASBACH AND OTHERS. HE USED THIS WEALTH NOT ONLY TO ACQUIRE 50% OF THE SHARES OF THE NEWLY INCORPORATED DOMAINE DE LA ROMANÉE-CONTI IN 1942, BUT ALSO TO FINANCIALLY BACK THE DRC, TO PULL OUT AND REPLANT ALL THE VINES IN THE ROMANÉE-CONTI VINEYARDS DEVASTATED BY PHYLLOXERA IN 1945, TO PLANT NEW VINES IN THE MONTRACHET VINEYARD IN 1945, AND TO ESTABLISH A NEW VINEYARD IN MONTRACHET. HE WAS ALSO THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE ACQUISITION OF PART OF THE MONTRACHET VINEYARD. HENRI LEROY DIED IN 1980, BUT HIS SHARES AND VOTING RIGHTS IN DRC PASSED EQUALLY TO HIS TWO DAUGHTERS, PAULINE ROQUE-LEROY AND LALOUX BIES-LEROY. MAISON LEROY WAS FOUNDED AS A WINE AND SPIRITS NEGOCIANT, BUT ITS WINE BUSINESS WAS FAR FROM SUCCESSFUL, PARTLY DUE TO THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. IT WAS IN FACT MARCELLE (NOW KNOWN AS 'LALOUX') WHO JOINED THE FAMILY BUSINESS AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 23, AND FROM 1955 ONWARDS, SHE ACTIVELY VISITED BURGUNDIAN PRODUCERS, TASTING THEIR WINES AND BUYING ONLY THE BEST BARRELS TO SELL UNDER THE MAISON LEROY LABEL. NOBLE AND ASSERTIVE, SHE ABHORS MULTI-YEAR CONTRACTS THAT AUTOMATICALLY BUY WINE FROM A PARTICULAR PRODUCER EVERY YEAR, OR BUYING ON A SOCIAL BASIS, AND HAS CHOSEN TO SELECTIVELY BUY ONLY THE BEST WINES, EVEN IF SHE HAS TO PAY A PREMIUM PRICE. THIS CEMENTED HER REPUTATION AS A 'QUALITY LEROY', BUT THIS APPROACH CAME TO A CATASTROPHE IN THE 1980S WHEN WINE PRICES STABILISED AT HIGH LEVELS AND MOST GOOD WINE PRODUCERS WENT EX-WORKS, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BUY THE WINES THEY LIKED IN BULK. PRODUCERS NATURALLY BOTTLED THE BEST BARRELS UNDER THEIR OWN NAME AND SOLD THEM AT HIGH PRICES, WHILE SELLING ONLY INFERIOR QUALITY LOTS TO NEGOCIANTS. WITH A STRONG COMMITMENT TO QUALITY, LALOUX-BEASE-LEROY WAS LEFT WITH ONLY ONE OPTION: TO OWN HIS OWN VINEYARDS. IN 1988, LALOUX DECIDED TO BUY DOMAINE CHARLES NOËRA, WHICH WAS UP FOR SALE, AND TOGETHER WITH HIS SISTER PAULINE, HE SOLD A THIRD OF HIS SHARES IN MAISON LEROY TO TAKASHIMAYA, RAISING 65 MILLION FRANCS. (FRANCS) TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION1 ). THUS DOMAINE LEROY, ESTABLISHED IN THE SAME VILLAGE OF VOSNE-ROMANÉE AS DRC, ACQUIRED DOMAINE PHILIPPE REMY IN THE VILLAGE OF JOUVRES-CHAMBERTIN THE FOLLOWING YEAR, CREATING AN EMPIRE OF OVER 22 HECTARES, INCLUDING NINE SPECIALITY VINEYARDS. INVESTMENT WENT BEYOND THE VINEYARDS TO THE WINERY, WHERE THE CELLARS OF THE FORMER DOMAINE CHARLES NOËRA WERE RENOVATED AND NEW BARRELS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT NECESSARY FOR HIGH-QUALITY WINEMAKING WERE PURCHASED WITH NO EXPENSE SPARED, WHILE ANDRÉ PORCHELET WAS BROUGHT IN FROM OSPIS DE BEAUNE TO WORK ON THE VINIFICATION2 ). IN THE SAME YEAR, 1988, LALOUX AND HER HUSBAND MARCEL BEADZ PERSONALLY PURCHASED DOMAINE DAUBENAY IN SAINT-ROMAIN AND BEGAN FREEHANDING THE ULTIMATE IN WINEMAKING, WITHOUT THE INPUT OF HER SISTER PAULINE, AND WITHOUT REGARD FOR PROFIT OR SHAREHOLDER DIVIDENDS.
CONFLICTS IN THE DRC
SINCE ITS CREATION IN 1988, VARIOUS CONFLICTS BETWEEN DOMAINE LEROY AND THE DRC HAVE COME TO LIGHT. LALOUX INTRODUCED BIODYNAMICS, A SPECIAL NATURAL FARMING METHOD THAT WAS NOT APPROVED BY THE DRC, AND BECAME A STRONG VOICE IN THIS FIELD, WHILE OPENLY CRITICISING THE OTHER DIRECTORS OF THE DRC FOR NOT ALLOWING HIM TO ADOPT THIS METHOD, AND EVEN INVITING JOURNALISTS WHO CAME TO TASTE DRC WINES TO DOMAINE LEROY. THEY REPEATEDLY MADE STATEMENTS SUCH AS "DOMAINE LEROY'S WINES ARE BETTER THAN DRC'S". IN PARTICULAR, AS BOTH COMPANIES OWNED PLOTS IN RICHEBOURG AND ROMANÉE-SAINT-VIVANT RESPECTIVELY, THESE WINES BECAME THE SUBJECT OF COMPARATIVE TASTINGS, AND THERE WAS MUCH INTEREST IN 'WHICH WINE WOULD BE BETTER RECEIVED BY THE CRITICS' AND 'WHICH WINE WOULD SELL FOR A HIGHER PRICE'. ROBERT PARKER GAVE LALOUX'S FIRST VINTAGE, THE 1988 ROMANÉE ST VIVANT, A TOP SCORE OF 98 POINTS, WHILE DRC'S ROMANÉE ST VIVANT WAS GIVEN 90 POINTS, AND FROM THEN ON THE US MARKET, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ROMANÉE CONTI AND MONTRACHET, THE WINES OF DRC WERE MORE DOMAINE LEROY EMERGES AS THE MOST EXPENSIVE WINE ON THE US MARKET, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ROMANÉE-CONTI AND MONTRACHET. THE SITUATION WAS INTOLERABLE FOR THE OTHER SHAREHOLDERS OF DRC, AS THEIR OWN CO-CHAIRMAN BECAME THEIR BIGGEST RIVAL AND AN UNABASHED CRITIC OF DRC'S WINES.
speculation
FOR MANY YEARS, DRC WINES WERE SOLD BY BUNDLING ONE BOTTLE OF ROMANÉE-CONTI WITH 11 BOTTLES OF OTHER RED WINES IN ORDER TO AVOID SPECULATION AND TO REACH ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD3 ). DRC ALSO EXPORTED DIRECTLY TO THE USA, WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR 50% OF SALES, AND TO THE UK, WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR 10%, WHILE OTHER MARKETS WERE SOLD VIA MAISON LEROY. THIS VESTED INTEREST OF MAISON LEROY IN THE SALE OF DRC WINES HAD LONG BEEN A SOURCE OF FRUSTRATION FOR THE DE VILLAINE FAMILY, WHO OWNED THE REMAINING 50% OF THE COMPANY'S SHARES. IT WAS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH FOR MAISON LEROY, WHICH CONTINUED UNTIL 1992 (1988 VINTAGE) WHEN LALOUX WAS DISMISSED, DESPITE REPEATED REQUESTS BY DE VILLAINE. AT THE END OF THE 1980S, WHEN JAPAN WAS IN THE THROES OF ITS BUBBLE ECONOMY, JAPANESE TRADERS, REPRESENTED BY HSU YONG-JUNG'S BUDOTEI WINE CELLAR IN AKASAKA, BEGAN TO BUY ROMANÉE-CONTI FROM EUROPEAN IMPORTERS AT INFLATED PRICES, WITH EUROPEAN TRADERS DEMANDING MORE QUOTAS VIA LE ROY, WHILE THE REMAINING 11 BOTTLES OF TYING WINES TO THE US FOR PARALLEL EXPORT AT BELOW DRC EXPORT PRICES, LEADING TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE DRC BUSINESS OF WILSON & DANIELS, THE US IMPORTER'S EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR. AND THE DRC, FACED WITH MASSIVE RETURNS FROM THE US, WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR 50% OF ITS SALES, DISMISSES LALOUX BEES-LEROY FOR TACITLY ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN. FOLLOWING THE DISMISSAL OF LALOUX-BISE-LEROY, CHARLES, THE ELDEST SON OF HER SISTER PAULINE, BECAME A PARTNER IN THE DRC FROM THE LEROY SIDE, BUT WAS SOON AFTER KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT AND WAS REPLACED BY HIS BROTHER HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC LOCKE. AND AS HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC DIED OF PANCREATIC CANCER IN NOVEMBER 2018, THE CURRENT CO-OWNER FROM THE LEROY FAMILY SIDE IS PERRINE FENAL, DAUGHTER OF LALOUX.
Since Henri Jayet's death in 2006, Domaine Henri Jayet's wines have reached prices beyond the reach of the public. The market is concerned about the health of Laloux Beadz-Leroy, who was born in 1932, and Domaine Leroy's wines have continued to soar abnormally high since the beginning of this year.