Forty guests. Four glasses at each place. Wines from 2010, 1999, 1949 and even 1937.

At a remarkable Domaine Leroy tasting, Lalou Bize-Leroy moved between tables, chatting with her guests. But there were no speeches, no prepared introductions, no explanations of what everyone was supposed to taste.

Wine critic Antonio Galloni, who attended, found her restraint striking.

This was a woman whose opinions could command the attention of Burgundy's finest winemakers. Yet she seemed perfectly happy to let the glasses do the talking.

AN UNCOMFORTABLE PARTNER

Lalou entered her family's wine business, Maison Leroy, in 1955. She was 23.

Her father, Henri, had introduced her to wine early. He taught her to trust her palate, and she developed a confidence in her own judgement that would define her career.

By 1974, she was co-managing Domaine de la Romanée-Conti alongside Aubert de Villaine.

Lalou was demanding, outspoken and not particularly interested in making herself agreeable. She wanted to push further, question established methods and make decisions according to her own convictions.

The partnership lasted eighteen years. In 1992, she was removed from DRC's management after years of disagreements involving both personal and commercial interests.

She did not disappear quietly.

But neither did she suddenly decide to become independent. By then, Domaine Leroy already existed.

HER OWN RULES

In 1988, Lalou acquired Domaine Charles Noëllat and began working biodynamically. Further vineyard acquisitions followed, supported financially by Japanese investors.

Her standards were exacting. She pursued low yields, rigorous selection and painstaking attention to individual vines.

In interviews, Lalou speaks about vines almost as living companions. She watches their health, their behaviour, their responses to the seasons. For her, the vineyard is not simply a source of grapes.

During the difficult 1993 vintage, when mildew threatened the vines, she maintained her commitment to avoiding conventional fungicide treatments. In her interview with Terre de Vins, she recalled how frightening that decision had been.

This is what makes her interesting. Her confidence does not seem to require the absence of doubt. She can be frightened and still refuse to abandon a conviction.

And she has never appeared especially concerned with whether other people find her methods reasonable.

WHEN A NAME BECOMES A VERDICT

Over the decades, Domaine Leroy became one of Burgundy's most coveted names.

Its wines acquired extraordinary prestige, accompanied by scarcity and prices that placed many bottles beyond the reach of ordinary wine lovers.

Lalou herself has little patience for the elaborate language that often surrounds great wine.

She has compared tasting to listening to music. You don't need someone explaining every note while the orchestra plays.

Yet there is a curious contradiction.

A bottle bearing the Leroy name arrives with expectations already attached. Critics know its reputation. Collectors know its value. Even someone who has never tasted one may have heard that it is exceptional.

The woman who insists that wine should speak for itself has become one of the loudest names in Burgundy.

LET THE WINE SPEAK

There is something I like about Lalou's impatience with endless explanations.

Wine can become exhausting when every sensation needs a correct name, every pleasure a justification. Sometimes I would rather taste first and think later.

Lalou has spent decades trusting her own judgement, even when it meant disagreeing with colleagues, established practices or the expectations of others.

Now she occupies the position of authority she once challenged.

Does that make her less independent? Perhaps not. But it makes her insistence on listening to the wine rather than its reputation all the more interesting.

Wine is never just wine. It needs no introduction.