Didier Dagueneau

Didier Dagueneau was an icon in French winemaking. With the fervor of a crusader, and the intensity of a mad scientist, he strived for perfection in his wines through strict selection of fruit, lower yields and experimentation with barrels. The resulting wines are among the greatest expression of Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Dagueneau’s wines undergo whole cluster fermentation, with varieties of native yeasts. Fermentation occurs in small stainless steel and oak barrels. After initial racking, the wines stay on their lees until bottling. There is no malolactic fermentation. From the Wine Spectator, “Rebel With a Cause” (May 31, 1995) Dagueneau’s best proof is surely his wine, which many consider to be the region’s new benchmark. “He is one of the great winemakers of our generation,” states Denis Dubourdieu, the Bordeaux enologist credited with revolutionizing white wine production in that region. Dubourdieu collaborates with Dagueneau in experiments with yeasts and skin contact and knows his work immediately. “Didier is an artist in the truest sense of the word. He makes wine according to an ideal in his head. He’s constantly evolving, looking for better ways to express the terroir. His wines reveal the finesse of Sauvingon Blanc. Tasting them is like listening to great music. You may not understand at first. You must keep tasting. But you never tire of them.” …. “I think Sauvignon is one of the most complex and subtle grapes,” [Dagueneau] explains, “but it’s very hard to extract that complexity. First, you must keep it from overproducing. Then, it can be difficult to have good aromatic maturity at the same time as physiological maturity. Often the grapes have good sugars, but haven’t reached aromatic ripeness. This leads to vegetal aromas like peppers, green beans, leeks or cat pee. These aromas are natural but not the ones I seek. I’m looking for fig, apricot, mangoes, passion fruit, grapefruit and cassis, all flavors of true aromatic ripeness.” While many credit Dagueneau with defining the vanguard of a new, ripe Loire Sauvignon, he maintains that he’s simply harking back to the traditions, the culture and the savoir faire of his grandfather’s generation. The concept of ripeness is a case in point. “Our grandfathers knew when the right ripeness had been achieved,” he says. “They knew, for example, that in a certain type of year the fruit flavor seemed dry.” Like his forebears, Dagueneau intends his wines to age. And his image of ancestral Pouillys has drawn him to modern techniques. Skin contact, for example, seemed to him a way to recreate oldstyle Pouillys, which were made from grapes that were harvested into wooden vats and left until the evening when they were pressed.

Region: Loire Valley

Wines:
Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fume "Pur Sang" 2010
Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fume "Silex" 2010
Didier Daganeau Sancerre "Les Monts Damnes" 2010
Didier Dagueneau "Les Jardins de Babylone Jurancon" 2007/2009 (Sweet)