The best value in Domaine Leroy's portfolio comes from the Cote de Beaune. An exceptionally great wine produced by Bize-Leroy in 1992 is the Volnay Les Santenots. Having tasted it several times from cask and twice from bottle, I can unequivocally state that the 1992 Volnay Les Santenots is a blockbuster, super-rich, authoritatively flavored yet wonderfully harmonious, elegant example of Volnay. The color is a saturated dark ruby and the nose offers up super-intense, jammy scents of sweet black-cherry fruit intertwined with oak and floral notes. It is a wine of extraordinary intensity, power, richness, and overall grace and harmony. This is a winemaking tour de force! Moreover, this must be the "bargain" wine of her portfolio. It should drink well between 1998-2015.
I have said it so many times that it may seem redundant, but if you missed it in my 1990 tome, Burgundy, Lalou Bize-Leroy stands virtually alone at the top of Burgundy's quality hierarchy. Because she is a perfectionist, and because she has had the courage to produce wines from low yields and bottle them naturally, without fining or filtration, she has been scorned by many Burgundy negociants, and even by the proprietors of other top domaines. Not only are they jealous, they are frightened of Bize-Leroy because they fear increasing pressure for lower yields and bio-dynamic farming. Anyone who loves great Burgundy, must realize that her wines embarrass much of what is produced in Burgundy.
For the fifth consecutive vintage since she launched her wines from the Domaine Leroy (formerly the Noellat estate), Lalou Bize-Leroy has made the highest percentage of Burgundy's greatest wines. Although not as phenomenally concentrated and extracted as her 1991s and 1990s, the 1992s are more closely aligned to her sumptuous 1989s. All of Domaine Leroy's 1992 Burgundies are shipped in temperature-controlled reefer containers and are distributed carefully by the American importer, Martine's Wines, San Rafael, CA; tel. (415) 485-1800.