Why Jay Chou loves Leroy wine so much
On July 14, 2022, Jay Chou released his 15th solo album to much anticipation, six years after his last album.
Starting from 2000, Jay Chou released an album almost every year. After 2010, the frequency of his album releases decreased, and after getting married, he lived a happy life like a prince and princess.
I wonder what kind of happy life other princes and princesses lead, but our Jay Chou drinks whenever he's free, and he really drinks very expensive wine.
From a "little music prince," he transformed into "Prince Leroy," a title he gave himself.
Some asked, "What is Leroy? Is it a kind of birch tree?"
Others said, "This bottle sells for so much? It looks pretty ordinary to me."
Still others commented, "Isn't it only expensive because Jay Chou drank it? Otherwise, would it sell for this price?"
The owner of Leroy Winery is Lalou Bize-Leroy, a true "white, rich, and beautiful" woman of Burgundy. It's not an exaggeration to call her the "eldest princess of Burgundy."
Her father was the third-generation head of Leroy Trading Company, also known as the "Prince of Cognac." He owned his own brandy distillery in Cognac and made a thriving business out of it.
In 1942, to solve its financial difficulties, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti decided to sell shares. The person who bought 55% of Romanée-Conti's shares was Lalou Bize-Leroy's father.
After her father's death, she and her sister officially inherited their father's shares in Romanée-Conti.
So, to put it plainly, Lalou Bize-Leroy is also one of the heads of Romanée-Conti. At this point, Lalou had ascended to the rank of Queen of Burgundy, with no one able to rival her.
Although many envied her family background, as she was born with the "princess card," she also experienced great ups and downs.
In 1974, she and another major shareholder, Aubert de Villaine, jointly served as co-chairmen of the winery, transforming Romanée-Conti into a world-class prestigious estate.
However, the two often disagreed, and eventually, due to differences in major decisions, she was jointly ousted from Romanée-Conti's management by Aubert and her own sister.
She took over her father's business in her twenties, painstakingly elevating Romanée-Conti to the position of "King of Wines," but at the age of 60, she was swept out.
After experiencing simultaneous betrayal from her partner and family, she suffered a huge blow both mentally and physically.
At this time, it was truly her husband who comforted her and helped her through it.
They met when Lalou Bize-Leroy was 26. Lalou fell in love with her husband at first sight, and in her own words, "we have never been apart since the first time we met."
So, with her husband's encouragement and support, she regrouped, and together they slowly established a new winery, Domaine d'Auvenay, where they lived a pastoral life, enjoying the peaceful scenery.
Seeing everything getting better, hope rekindled in Leroy's heart, and the prince and princess continued to live happily ever after.
However, fate played another trick on her. In August 2004, her husband suddenly passed away. Lalou Bize-Leroy lost the love of her life and was immersed in grief.
At the same time, misfortunes never come singly. That year, due to powdery mildew and hailstorms, the Leroy vineyards suffered heavy losses, and the quality did not meet Lalou Bize-Leroy's standards.
Lalou Bize-Leroy's wine selection standards have always been the highest, even to the point of being demanding. As the harvest season quickly approached, Lalou Bize-Leroy still didn't know what to do.
Finally, to ensure quality, she did something that surprised everyone: she blended all the Grand Cru, Premier Cru, and Village wines together and downgraded them all to regional wines.
It's important to know that Burgundy's classification system is: Grand Cru > Premier Cru > Village Cru > Regional Cru.
So, Lalou essentially blended all the best wines, second-best wines, and third-best wines together, but priced them at the level of the fourth-best, which means they were absolutely excellent value for money.
They released a total of 5 regional wines.
They are Bourgogne (Burgundy), Chambolle Musigny, Gevrey Chambertin, Nuits Saint Georges, and Vosne-Romanée.
However, people at the time didn't see it that way. On one hand, no one had ever done this before, and everyone felt some resistance. On the other hand, people were unsure what price such a blended wine should command.
The 2004 Leroy wines were unsellable at the time; they were often forced upon people as part of an allocation package with famous estate wines.
However, today, the 2004 Leroy has increased in value by more than forty times. Those who were "forced" to take these wines have actually made a huge profit. A blessing in disguise, perhaps?
Debourg specializes in wine collection; we appreciate the passion you put into your collection.
