Richard Leroy: Part-Time Vigneron
Richard began visiting Anjou with some regularity, and in doing so he encountered Joël Ménard of Domaine des Sablonnettes. The two formed a mutually beneficial friendship; Joël had all the viticultural experience anyone could have wanted, but not the tasting experience to match Richard’s years spent getting acquainted with the likes of Château Latour, Château d’Yquem and so on. As the two spent more time together Richard absorbed as much of Joël’s knowledge of vines and viticulture that he could, and eventually the two agreed that Richard should buy some vines. But he was adamant that only the best terroir would do. This was in 1992. It was not until 1996 that he found the right vineyard, Les Noëls de Montbenault, the very plot of vines to which we were now heading in Richard’s little van.
So now Richard Leroy was a vigneron, part-time at least; Joël was a constant and helpful presence during the first three years as Richard struggled to juggle his various commitments, using his holidays to come back to Rablay-sur-Layon and tend to his vines. Just two years after his vineyard purchase he acquired a little house, where we had met just minutes before, and two years after that, in 2000, he and his family moved there permanently. The same year he acquired his only other vineyard, the Clos de Rouliers, a smaller plot than Les Noëls de Montbenault.
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