This is the regular de Vogue Musigny. There also was a Vieilles-Vignes
version, of which I have a bottle. I mark the level of a few of my older
and best wines each year. This bottle showed a significant drop in level
since last year, so I decided it was time to open it before the cork
likely failed. The cork in the Vieilles-Vignes still seems to be holding
well.

What can I say about this legendary wine that has not been said, other
than this bottle was in very good condition and without problems. One
can not expect it to last forever, and it probably should be consumed
fairly soon.

The color is still remarkably deep for the age, now showing some brick
around the rim. The wine is extremely concentrated in every way, but has
perfect balance. It is full of rich and complex dark fruit.The texture
is velvety. It is somewhat meaty, and there are hints of chocolate. The
finish is very long. This is one of the best wines from this estate
since at least WWII, and many would call it the best. You really only
have to sit back and enjoy a wine such as this. It lets you know it is
something very special without much thought, analysis, deep sniffing,
etc. I have had better bottles of Burgundy, but you can count them on
the fingers of one hand - and most of them are La Tache.

Reply to .

Thanks as always for the fascinating notes. Reading some of your
notes is almost like reading Broadbent in the sense that I get at least
to hear about wines that I will very likely never get to taste. One
question about this one: unlike many of your other notes, you don't give
the provenance of this bottle. How did you come to own such a legendary
wine? Purchased at auction, or by other routes?

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton states: "Thanks as always for the fascinating notes. Reading
some of your notes is almost like reading Broadbent in the sense that I
get at least to hear about wines that I will very likely never get to
taste. One question about this one: unlike many of your other notes, you
don't give the provenance of this bottle. How did you come to own such a
legendary wine? Purchased at auction, or by other routes?"

I bought the wine at aucion many years ago when the price was relatively
reasonable. I have been building a collection of wines for about 40
years. I do not buy top wines such as this anymore, because of the
extreme inflation in top wine prices. I have consumed most of my
mistakes, so my older wines that remain are mostly quite good. I can
remember buying 61 Lafite for about US$11 per bottle, 59 Yquem for the
same, Romanee-Conti for under $50 - a very expensive wine for the time.
Even considering general inflation over the years, you did not have to
be rich to afford very good wine all of the time then, and you could
afford top wine fairly often. A person in your position could have
bought many first growth Bordeauxs then and perhaps open a bottle of one
every week. In the early days I tended to buy about half of the wines
for drinking fairly soon, and about half for cellaring.

Reply to .

Cwdjrx _ wrote:

> I bought the wine at aucion many years ago when the price was relatively
> reasonable. I have been building a collection of wines for about 40
> years. I do not buy top wines such as this anymore, because of the
> extreme inflation in top wine prices. I have consumed most of my
> mistakes, so my older wines that remain are mostly quite good. I can
> remember buying 61 Lafite for about US$11 per bottle, 59 Yquem for the
> same, Romanee-Conti for under $50 - a very expensive wine for the time.
> Even considering general inflation over the years, you did not have to
> be rich to afford very good wine all of the time then, and you could
> afford top wine fairly often. A person in your position could have
> bought many first growth Bordeauxs then and perhaps open a bottle of one
> every week. In the early days I tended to buy about half of the wines
> for drinking fairly soon, and about half for cellaring.

Yes, the usual story. Alas, I have only been amassing my collection for
25 years -- and I've only been buying wines from Europe for 20 -- so I
missed the halcyon days of the '70s. Of course, the auction market does
still provide some opportunity to purchase older bottles of undervalued
wines, but the days of buying legendary bottles at auction are gone for
all but the richest of collectors.

Mark Lipton