After finalizing his studies in Economic sciences, Leroy and his wife Sophie settled down in Germany. Sophie opened a shop where French wines and finest food were on sale. Despite their successful venture, the couple decided to invest their time in expanding their knowledge about wine. In 1980, the couple moved to Paris for one reason only which was to taste as many varieties of wine as possible.
During this period, Paris was the only international wine market where it was possible to buy varieties of local and foreign wines. During their time in Paris, Richard and Sophie became friends with the Drouhin family, Dominique Lafon, Christophe Roumier etc… to the point that their social gatherings became a motivation for their next adventure. After tasting some quality wines at the International Agricultural Show in Paris, Leroy decided to look for a vineyard in Coteaux du Layon area. Richard had the opportunity to buy the plot of “Les Nöels de Montbenault”. Since its creation, no chemical products were used at the vineyard but a great investment of manual efforts.
Upon his arrival to Rablay, Richard firstly decided to limit his production of wine to sweet varieties only. He soon faced an ethical issue towards the use of Sulphur. It is almost impossible to produce wines using only bottled residual sugar without using SO2. Nowadays, Leroy is focusing on producing dry wines that require 20mg of SO2 per litre only. A tiny domaine of a 3-hectare vineyard.
