“There is a tide in the affairs of men,” as Shakespeare observed, “which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” There’s no great wine estate that hasn’t been both the cause and victim of its ebb and flow, whether through neglect, bad luck or changing fashion.

Vin de Constance, for example, was once the most expensive wine in the world. Death, diminished family fortunes and the implosion of the Dutch East India Company contributed to its decline. It took almost two centuries to become an international icon again...

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