Ok, I’ll admit I’ve got zero experience with Leroy. So when my wines arrived and every bottle showed signs of seepage I took photos and sent them to the retailer. Their response was, “Leroy pre-soaks all of the corks. So this is very normal for her wines.”
Yet this feels like BS.
They fill the wine pretty high and there’s occasionally seepage. But for all of them to seep seems to be a different issue
FWIW, those are negoce bottles.
Isn’t Leroy notorious for overfilling, thus causing seepage?
@ kshinn How can you tell?
Also, the full on these does not look high…it looks average. I’ve got some Burgs that were overfilled by another producer…this looks more like seepage to me?
I’ve bought and sold a ton of leaking Leroy bottles - got to the point where I had the Domaine whip up a letter that I sent along with every order and purchase stating that leaking and the resultant mold were ‘normal’. They do soak all their corks before bottling. Plus they tend to overfill by a ml or two. Plus they say that there are big temperature difference between the cellars, the bottling area, and the storage area. Add it all together and the non-leaking bottles are the rarer than the leakers.
I don’t buy Leroy, but it boggles my mind that some of the most expensive wines in the world can’t figure out how to use corks.
I only have experience with the Negociant Bourgogne rouge/blanc bottles, but every one we opened so far had a completely soaked and crumbly cork, but the wine was intact. Can’t remember if there was visible signs of leakage before pulling the corks…
I’m sure you’re getting this impression from all the posts above, but to add in another data point: The 2004 Bourgognes that I’ve had from Leroy all had leakage and were stored perfectly since release.
I have never heard of a winery ‘soaking’ all corks before bottling - that just does not sound ‘right’ to me. Over-filling - sure. Pre-soaking? Not sure why they would do this, what they hope to accomplish, etc . . .
Curious if anyone has any more info on this
Cheers
I’ve had a number of bottles of the negociant bourgogne over a few vintages (but mostly '99s), and remember that most, if not all of them, were leaking. Corks were always very wet. Wines were always sound.
I am not Kevin, but white foil is all negociant Maison Leroy not Domaine Leroy which are either red wax or red foil.
Mucho notorious. But I can only count on one hand the leaked once I’ve received. Corked soaked through for all of them though
Apologies for continuing the thread drift…but has there ever been a Domaine Leroy Bourgogne? TIA
Alex, there were wines declassified into Domaine labelled Bourgogne in 2004. I think Stuart Niemtzow bought most of them.
Always high fills with Leroy. No need for concern with some seepage.
They offered one in 2004 when they declassified the grapes from the single vineyards
Jeremy, much appreciated and I’ve had the 2004 as recently as last year but I can’t recall the capsule color – was it bottled with a red capsule to signify Domaine?
Dr. Alan Weinberg is an expert on Burgundy and leaking.
The ones I’ve seen used red wax.