Richard LEROY

The wines of Richard Leroy, in the superb Layon region(Loire Valley), offer the best of their terroir, expressing themselves with class, minerality, salinity and uprightness.

Who is Richard Leroy?

After studying economics, Richard Leroy moved to Germany. His wife Sophie ran a boutique selling French products, including a few bottles of wine. The future winemaker helps keep the business running. Everything's running smoothly. Except that friend Richard is wondering what to do next. He could see himself going to Paris to discover wine-tasting clubs. In 1980, he moved there and tasted great wines, foreign wines and more modest Crus with the same curiosity. This is how tasting became his hobby. He meets people, great winegrowing families, most of them from Burgundy. These encounters led him to set off in search of a Winery vineyard. Not easy, prices are prohibitive. Until one day, with the help of a few winegrowers, he began his search in the Côteaux du Layon. Richard Leroy goes fishing for information to find the best terroirs in the area.

Why the Loire Valley for Richard Leroy?

Against all odds, Richard Leroy chose plots in Rablay-sur-Layon. Just under 3 hectares divided between two parcels. Les Noëls de Montbenault', at the top of the hillside overlooking the Layon, covers 2 hectares. The soil is shallow and full of rhyolite volcanic rock. It faces due south and is windy, which has the great advantage of drying the grapes throughout the year and thus avoiding disease. 

Clos des Rouliers' totals just 0.7 ares and lies at the foot of the slope. The soil type is much the same, but there's less wind. Richard Leroy feels that these terroirs have nothing to envy the great local appellations. He knows it! He can make great natural wines here!

What is Richard Leroy's approach to winemaking and cultivation?

From the outset, chemicals were banned, the vines were ploughed and the manual work carried out by the neo-winemaker was colossal. Richard Leroy thought of producing sweet wines, but was soon faced with a dilemma when it came to sulfur. Wines with residual sugars are almost impossible to produce without added sulfite. So he tested dry Chenin in his garage, which had been converted into a wine cellar, and it all clicked! He selects the best from his vines, and year after year, his cuvées are appreciated. In 2008, Richard Leroy decided to downgrade his cuvées to vins de France, voluntarily leaving the appellation, tired of the never-ending wars over administrative approvals and authorizations. Three years later, somewhat in spite of himself, winemaker became the star of Etienne Davodeau's (super) comic strip "Les Ignorants". It's a hit. He receives calls at home from all over the world to buy his natural wines and congratulate him. It's an episode that's a little beyond him, but one that has introduced thousands of people to his work, his philosophy and his personality. When we manage to get our hands on a few bottles of Richard Leroy's chenin, discover these marvellous cuvées! Your taste buds will thank you... for life.