Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, based in the village of Chambolle-Musigny in Burgundy's Côte de Nuits, is one of the most famous wine producers in the region. The historic family estate has a lineage dating back almost half a millennium and forms part of the history of the village of Chambolle-Musigny, where it produces elegant wines made from Pinot Noir and, historically, Chardonnay from the Musigny Grand Cru site.
The self-proclaimed "Domaine de Musigny", the estate holds 7.2 hectares (18 acres) of the Musigny Grand Cru vineyard – by far the biggest landowner in the 10.8 hectare (27 acre) climat, including all of the Petit Musigny plot at the southern end that directly overlooks the wall and château of the Clos de Vougeot.
The estate also boasts 2.7 hectares (6.5 acres) of Bonnes-Mares – the other grand cru site in the commune of Chambolle-Musigny. Vines are also held in the famous Les Amoureuses Premier Cru vineyard (this amounts to just over half a hectare or 1.4 acres), as well as Les Baudes and Les Fuées, although these are often used to make the village-level wine.
Musigny's steep slopes and stony, friable soils, and winemaker Francois Millet's low-intervention techniques, combine to produce a heavily fragranced wine with notes of violets, raspberries and blackberries. The wine, which is one of the most expensive in Chambolle-Musigny, is highly collectable and has the ability to age for decades.
The Bonnes-Mares label, on the other hand, tends to be more robust, with more direct fruit and stronger tannins.
Historically, Chardonnay was planted alongside the Pinot Noir vines to assist with the acidity and softness of the eventual wine. De Vogüé dug up half of its Chardonnay vines in 1986, and replaced them in their own plot in the Musigny vineyard. This Musigny Blanc is one of Burgundy's most curious wines, and is commanding prices that are rivaling those in Le Montrachet.
De Vogüé's history began in the mid 1400s, with money bequeathed from one Jean Moisson to the Chambolle village church, which was the site of the future domaine. Throughout the years, the growing domaine was passed down through numerous generations eventuating in the ownership today by 20th-generation Comtesse Gérard de Caussans and her sister Marie de Vogüé.
The Musigny vines themselves were first mentioned in a marriage settlement in 1528. De Vogüé is rare in that it is one of the only domaines in Burgundy that can trace itself so far back in the region's history.
