The Great Art Collector who Gave All Away

Husband and wife Herbert and Dorothy Vogel were not wealthy but both passionate about art. He didn’t finish high school and worked as a postal clerk. She came from a middle-class family, got a Master degree in library science and was a librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library. They were young aspiring artists and learned to paint in the early 1960’s after they got married. That led to art appreciation and collecting. Dorothy’s earning would support their very modest costs of living while Herbert’s pay cheque would all be spent on buying art. They focused on conceptual and minimalist artists that were not well known and whose works had little commercial value at the time. Herbert explained: “I knew these arts were new. I didn’t know whether they were good or bad but nothing similar was done before.”

They bypassed art galleries and dealers and communicated directly with up-and-coming artists, and through time developed close relationships, even friendships with many artists who eventually became famous. Over the next 40-50 years, the couple amassed what would become the most significant collection of American Art: over 4,000 pieces that included works by Robert Mangold, Sol Lewitt, Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Joe Baer, Ronald Bladen, Richard Tuttle, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman and many others. They stored all in their very modest 450-square-feet-one-bed-room New York apartment, together with their pets of eight cats, nineteen fishes and twenty tortoises.

When the couple reached their very mature age, they decided to donate their collection to 50 U.S. museums, one in each state. They loved art obviously. Their bigger vision was not to just stockpile them but to support artists before they became famous and also made light of their works for the public to appreciate. In donating their collection, the conditions were that the museums must not charge for people coming to see the art and that the art would never be sold.

Quite a story, right? Anyway, time to turn to wines and these are some of our recent additions which you may like:

2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs (WA96 HK$1,000/bottle) – 1996, 2002 and 2008 are regarded as legendary among more recent Champagne vintages and so go with their high prices. We want to suggest 2006 as an excellent alternative for its quality and value, a prime example being this one from Taittinger. The wine opens with a fascinating intense, floral, slightly reductive nose that develops enormously in the glass, offering lemon and lemon confit aromas along with flinty notes of crushed chalk and an iodine flavour. The palate is fresh and also rich, lush and intense, with the purity, balance and tension of the finest.   

2006 Krug Vintage Brut (WA97 at HK$2,600/bottle) – This famous Champagne house producing clearly one of the vintage's highlights as the wine offers aromas of dried fruits, pear, freshly baked bread, caramelized apples, honeycomb and toasted sourdough. The palate is full-bodied, deep and layered, with superb concentration, racy acids and an impressively tightly wound profile. It is very good now and has unquestionably great potential to further develop for the long haul.   

2018 Le Petit Cheval Blanc White (WA95 at HK$980/bottle) – We are re-stocking this more recent offering from the great Bordeaux estate that is a 74/26 blend of Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon. Profound notions of ripe pineapple, passion fruit and white peaches explode from the glass, followed by fragrant notes of lemongrass, lime blossoms and yuzu zest with a waft of sea spray. The palate is full-bodied with an alluring oiliness to the texture and layer upon layer of tropical fruits, citrus peel and minerals, marked by a refreshing line and finishing with loads of mineral sparks.

2006 L’Eglise-Clinet (RP96 at HK$1,200/bottle) – This Bordeaux red has a killer bouquet: intense black and red fruit, crushed rose petals and dried herbs. It possesses one of the classiest aromatics in the Pomerol appellation. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, dense dark berry fruit laced with black tea, dried herbs and a touch of juniper, gently building towards a lightly spiced, dense finish with impressive substance. The 2006 offers great values too as other of the same wine from the better vintages are typically priced at least 20% higher.    

2016 Pape Clement (RP96 at HK$650/bottle) – By one of our favourite Bordeaux estates and from the excellent 2016 vintage, the wine has quite a serious, earthy nose with truffles and smoked meats over a cassis, baked plums and redcurrants core plus a touch of lavender. Medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy, the palate is built like a brick house, supporting muscular black fruit and earthy notions and finishing very long and mineral laced.

2018 La Gaffeliere (WA97 at HK$480/bottle) –  The 2018 La Gaffeliere would beat most Bordeaux red for both quality and value. It is a little closed to begin, slowly unfurling to offer peeks at notions of stewed red and black plums, mulberries and Morello cherries, plus hints of damp earth, tar and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is tightly wound, delivering crunchy red and black fruits with an approachable texture of fine-grained tannins and loads of freshness, finishing long with a lifted perfume.

2016 Grattamacco Grattamacco (WA96 at HK$650/bottle) – The 2016 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco is a subtle and elegant red from Tuscany (Italy) with decisive energy and forward momentum. The blend is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Sangiovese. The bouquet opens to delicate berry and wild cherry and then moves over to warmer Mediterranean tones of rosemary, pressed flower and gardening soil. To the palate, the wine shows depth and consistency that prizes smoothness, texture and length.

2016 Dominio del Aguila Reserva (WA97 at HK$580/bottle) – Another splendid wine we are re-stocking, this Spanish red has an incredible nose, violets and something musky, intriguing, complex and nuanced, mysterious and difficult to define, with some notes reminiscent of soy sauce. The palate is seamless and with terrific balance, a silky texture and very fine but chalky tannins.

2008 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance (WA95 at HK$650/500 ml) – Last but certainly not least, the sweet wine the late QEII served during a glittering state banquet for China President Xi Jinping at the Buckingham Palace in 2015, this is one of the most iconic cuvees from South Africa with the 2008 vintage offering a very complex bouquet of fresh pineapple, quince, Japanese yuzu, a hint of grass clippings and mille fieulle. It is extremely well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine viscous entry that immediately comes across as very elegant and refined.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to go to our website www.vinopolis.com.hk to browse the full wine list. Purchases can be made through the website or by sending us an e-mail or simply WhatsApp 9195-7383.