It was not, however, until 1766, that the name de Vogue first appears in the records, when the Moissons' last direct female descendant, Catherine Bouhier, married Cerice Francois Melchior de Vogue. Since then, five generations of de Vogues have managed the Domaine, each adding, by acquisition or exchange, something to its vineyards.
Most, no doubt, chose to live in Jean Moisson's elegant 15th century house in the Rue de Barbe, with its tall, plain casement windows, which faces on to his attractive, though now enlarged, parish church.
In post-war years it was Comte Georges de Vogue whose name was inextricably linked with the Domaine. By all accounts a lively old-fashioned aristocrat of great charm, he came often to Chambolle from his home in Paris, to discuss and oversee the work of a closely-knit team, led by the forthright and irrepressible Alain Roumier. Sadly, Comte Georges died in 1987, the same year that Roumier retired after 30 years' service.
Georges' wife took over, but left the Domaine's day-to-day management to her daughter, Elizabeth de Ladoucette. In spring 1986, a new team was installed, consisting of oenologue Francois Millet and Gerald Gaudeau who arrived as Chef de Culture. The amiable and urbane Jean-Luc Pepin was appointed 'commercial attache' in 1988, to superintend sales and marketing operations.
There was much to be done. Since the late 1970s there had been disquiet in expert circles about the Domaine's wines which were widely felt to be less concentrated and consistent than before; even in great vintages, such as 1978, there seemed scant sign of the extraordinary quality seen in legendary vintages such as 1945,.1947, 1959, 1969 and 1972. The potential was clearly there but the managers simply weren't realising it. Given the high price of its wines, the Domaine's reputation inevitably suffered.It is difficult to discover whether there really was a problem. The Domaine itself kept virtually no stocks of older vintages, so there are none of impeccable provenance to taste. It may also be commented that Musigny - the core of the estate's production - is often misjudged, being a wine of naturally lightish colour and predominantly characterised by finesse and elegance. Those expecting the colour or style of neighbouring Morey-St.-Denis or of Vougeot, might wrongly conclude that the wine is unusually light in fruit. With Pinot Noir in general, and with Chambolle-Musigny and its wines in particular, colour is often a poor indicator of flavour. A wine of pale rose hue often turns out to be packed with fruit and to have considerable power and depth.
Even so, the critics are unlikely to have all been wide of the mark. What is far from clear is precisely what happened during the 1970s and early 1980s. Some talked of overproduction, others of excessive filtration to please the US market (they liked it then!); the first is verifiable, and false, the second possible but implausible given Alain Roumier's experience and Georges de Vogue's undoubted commitment to quality. It should be noted that between 1973, when the rot is generally supposed to have set in, and 1986 when the new regime took over, there was only one really outstanding vintage 1978.
The new team is now firmly bedded in, and it is by their output that the Domaine must be judged. Francois Millet comes with excellent credentials: after extensive studies at Dijon University he spent 12 years as a consultant oenologist to various houses 'from Macon to Montelimar'. A somewhat deliberate, taciturn person, he distrusts rigid formulae of any sort and stresses the importance of approaching each vintage with an open mind. What may be good for one particular lot of grapes may not necessarily suit the next.
The result of this vintage-by-vintage, cuvee -by-cuvee policy is that it makes no sense to speak of a system of vinification. Moreover, Francois is adamant that it will take longer than the decade he has been at the Domaine to establish a real rapport between him and his wines and for him to grow into the de Vogue mould. However, he takes great care to avoid isolation, in his nineteenth century cellars, from what is going on elsewhere; tasting other wines,. not just Burgundies, and making regular visits to vineyards elsewhere, he regards as an integral part of his job. It is all too easy to become so closely involved that you can no longer see where you are going - so Francois Millet travels and tastes.
Even allowing for the 'no-formulae' approach, trying to discover how the Domaine sets about vinifying its impeccably nurtured fruit is met with singular reticence.
The stated aim is, as far as possible; to tailor vinification to the year and to the particular vineyard or lot of grapes concerned. Even given healthy grapes all round, there may be significant differences in the way each vineyard's produce is dealt with. Getting to know the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of each patch of vines, and each patch of terroir is, in Francois' view, a cornerstone of his work.
This willingness to remain flexible, to take decisions as individual circumstances dictate, does not exclude preferences. The grapes are usually destemmed - between 30 and 100% - how much varying with vintage, appellation and the individual parcel of vines. 'Stems,' according to Francois Millet, 'are difficult to evaluate; tannins vary in quality, and soil is an important factor.' Equally, some parts of a vineyard tend to give more natural grape tannin than others, lessening the need for the addition of stem tannin. Furthermore, tannin has several sources, and it may be possible to extract better tannins from a longer cuvaison than from a greater proportion of stems in the vats.
In all but the worst of rot-infected years, a short period of maceration precedes fermentation in large open wooden vats. Francois Millet likes 'to work with nature ¬the sun and the earth' and is less than enthusiastic about those who dose their crushed grapes with massive amounts of sulphur to ensure a long cool pre-fermentive maceration. As he quaintly puts it: This is not natural- not a way to thank God for his work.'
Yeasting, with dried Burgundy yeasts may be used on vats which are Sluggish in starting to ferment. Thereafter, temperature is controlled at a maximum of 32-33° C with length of cuvaison adapted to the parcel being vinified. In general, the longer the cuvaison the better, although it has been noted that some vineyards produce better results with 15 days, others with a month.
Francois Millet believes that the length of maceration after fermentation is of greater importance than the length of fermentation itself. The pulp left after the wine has been run off is gently pressed and the wine extracted kept apart. Whilst the chances are that this will all be added to the free-run wine, this is only done after several tastings and when the time is deemed right. 'Chambolles,' Francois points out, 'are characteristically feminine so it is rare not to include 100% of the vin de presse, even in riper years, to add an element of backbone and structure.'
The Domaine's policy on casks appears to be still evolving. There is 40--70% of new wood, depending on vintage, parcel of vines etc .... and efforts are being made to determine which forest provides the most suitable oak for each particular wine. So far Francois has tentatively decided that Never adapts well to Bonnes-Mares - or is it the other way round? There are no firm conclusions, beyond the negative statement that they do not want to go the way of many growers and simply use new casks of several different provenances as a cautious averaging.
A further complication is that wood from the same forest can differ from year to year. So the Domaine is trying to educate its barrel-maker by inviting him to taste and to become more involved in their thinking.
Whether a wine is racked at all - except, of course, for bottling - and if it is, when and how often - is a matter for individual decision. What is certain is that if a cask is racked then gravity not pumping is used. There is a general tendency to rack shortly after malo, but this decision is tempered by the desire to keep enough lees in the cask. The moment of assemblage is equally fluid. It may happen before fining or just after, or may be delayed until just before bottling. The later each blend is made the more precise it can be; 'It is like a painting, there are more colours to use.'
Fining is not an unvarying piece of the de Vogue vinification jigsaw. 'Fining undresses a wine,' chorus both Francois and Jean-Luc. So a separate decision is taken on each cask. If fining is deemed necessary, samples are analysed to determine the optimum fining agent. Fresh egg whites are generally preferred, but gelatine may sometimes be more efficient. Neither is filtration a cornerstone: 'It is ridiculous to filter a wine if it is brilliant.' When necessary, Kieselguhr or plate filters are used or, in extreme cases, both.
Perhaps the most exigent decision a winemaker faces is when to bottle. Here, at least, there seems to be a policy: 'We are looking for a wine that is beginning to open out. This is not easy to figure out, but we do not want a wine which is too open.' Cask maturation has both a good and a bad side - too much cask age can dry out a wine and destroy the delicate Pinot Noir fruit, whereas the right amount can greatly enhance a wine's quality and life expectancy. 'One is taking a wine out of his house and putting it into a bottle.' It has taken almost a decade, but now the new team are producing wines of indisputably top-class ranking. Although these are still young, in terms of their long-term evolution - a fine Musigny needs 10--20 years in bottle - one can see both quality and consistency; not just the occasional flash in the pan, but year-on-year confidence. It would seem that the frisson, the indefinable thrill, of great Bonnes-Mares, great Amoure uses and, above all, of great silken, opulent Musigny, is steadily being recaptured.
The Domaine produces about 4,000 cases a year comprising five wines: Musigny Blanc: a minuscule output of some 160 cases of a most sought-after and unusual wine from Chardonnay grown on Grand Cru Cote de Nuits soil This curious cross-fertilisation produces a wine of striking power and considerable presence, without the indelible finesse of a great Puligny; rather more like a Corton Charlemagne with a hairy chest. For some it is the ultimate in dry white wine, for others just an interesting curiosity. Whichever camp you support, making up your mind is an expensive pastime.
Alain Roumier wanted the Domaine to have some plain Chambolle Village land, to have more stock to offer its loyal customers, but Comte Georges would not entertain the idea, feeling that nothing less than Premier Cru would do. Now, there is a straight Chambolle, from 1.8 ha of Village vineyards.
Otherwise, the red range begins with the Chambolle Premier Cru Les Amoure uses. The soil in this particular vineyard has a high limestone content which characteristically gives a wine of great finesse and delicacy, with a lightish colour and a soft, mouthfilling flavour. The wines of Chambolle-Musigny tend to have a good natural balance of tannin and acidity and the Amoureuses beautifully exemplifies this. Francois will tell you - with a broad grin - that he never acidifies his wines - which leaves one marvelling even more at the quality of Chambolle's soils!
The Domaine's Bonnes-Mares vines are located nearer to Chambolle than to Morey. The wine is invariably both denser and darker in appearance than the Amoureuses, with more weight and structure. It tends to age into a fine spectrum of aromas, at first fruit based and then more vegetal; altogether, a much wilder wine than its brother Musigny, with a little less raw power, but with considerable finesse and concentration; a wine of more masculine tone, but with no less breed and length.
The Musigny, of which the Domaine de Vogtie is by far the largest owner, with some 80% of the entire vineyard, comes as a single cuvee labelled Vieilles Vignes. Capable of divine sublimity, it disarms the drinker with its limpid light colour and hue of red silk taffeta, which belie the purity and depth of fruit underneath. The nose develops into a harmonious amalgam of discrete, but seductive aromas of great class and finesse, each sniff offering a different facet and a new perspective. On the palate, a superb concentration of ripe fruit, with generally well rounded tannins, is offset by a fine balance of acidity. The most striking characteristic of this wine, as evident in lesser vintages as in great, is its length and persistence. The former shows as a 'peacock's tail' of flavours, whilst the latter allows those flavours to remain on the palate long after swallowing. In fine vintages the de Vogue Musigny is a wine of great profundity and one of Burgundy's rare and remarkable treasures. The 1993, helped by a fair amount of millerandage, is a masterpiece.
This is one of the Cote d'Or's noblest estates, of whose potential for making some of the finest and most remarkable Burgundies no-one is in any serious doubt. Whilst the team continue to consolidate their feel for the great vineyards under their control, the confidence and quality of the wines they have so far produced has done much to revitalise the Domaine's fortunes. The restoration of this magnificent estate to its former pre-eminence will be heartily applauded by all Burgundy lovers. De Vogue is now back on top form .