Richard Leroy, 2015 Update
There are few vignerons in Anjou that I follow to the extent that I do Richard Leroy. I ensure I stop off to taste with him at least once each year, to check out the latest vintage, usually one that has finished its élevage in oak and is then resting in cuve, assembled and ready for bottling. I also buy the wines for myself of course, and so I get to check out how they develop after bottling, and with a good amount of bottle age too.
This short review therefore takes in two recent vintages; first, the 2013 vintage, tasted with Richard (pictured above) in Anjou, and then the 2011 vintage, now in distribution, several bottles having found their way into my cellar. The 2013 vintage showed a certain degree of typicity, although the wines are perhaps slightly coloured by the character of the growing season, but the 2011 vintage is idiosyncratic and I suspect will surprise many fans of this domaine.
The 2013 Vintage
Once again the 2013 vintage is one of low yields chez Leroy, something that we see with truly organic or biodynamic domaines. Richard brought in 15 and 13 hl/ha for the two cuvées. He could have had better yields this year, he told me, but he feels that he delayed picking too long.
Please log in to continue reading:“I was tasting the grapes a lot in preparation for harvest, but the degrees were only 11º to 12º, and I usually pick at more than 13º, so I decided to wait. I should have picked as a week later the botrytis came, and I lost a significant percentage of the harvest to noble rot. The fruit would have made a good liquoreux cuvée but that is not for me”.