The Importance of Being Lalou : A Tale of Mountain Climbing, Family Freuds, Astrology and Incredible Wine

Burgundy's One-Woman Revolution

June 20, 1996|MATT KRAMER

In her wines, Lalou seeks a magnified delineation of flavors. Each wine offers a kaleidoscope of sensations, each of which is distinct from the other with no blurring or muddiness. Because of this, it is virtually impossible to mistake one vineyard for another in a Domaine Leroy wine. Lalou seeks a degree of purity, allied to extraordinary concentration, that is almost unmatched by any other producer.

Because of this, some of Domaine Leroy's wines are so rich, so intense, so dense in taste and texture that they are disturbingly original. Sometimes this magnification is so great that it forces you to reevaluate all other renditions of the same wine. At its most extreme, such as Domaine Leroy's Corton-Charlemagne, a grand cru white Burgundy, the scale of the wine is so spectacularly outsize that it can seem aberrant. Is her Corton-Charlemagne the true voice of this famous vineyard? And if it is, what does that make all the other versions?

Whatever the answers to such questions, Domaine Leroy's wines have forced a wholesale rethinking about what makes for a great Burgundy. Other growers are beginning to emulate Lalou, as best they can. This isn't easy, if only because of money. No one else has Lalou's audacity in pricing.

But Burgundians do command a premium for their wines, enough so that dedicated producers can approach Domaine Leroy's standard. Chances are, much of what Lalou has demonstrated in her wines can be achieved without going to quite such an extreme. But then, that's why Lalou gets the big bucks, deutsche marks, francs and yen. Extremism in the defense of Burgundy is no vice.