Domaine Didier Dagueneau Vin de France Blanc Etc 2020

“Tasting at this address has never been more exciting and the wines have never been more evidently at the summit of the Loire Sauvignon pecking order.” David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate “When his father died in September of 2008, Louis Benjamin was only 26 years old. While some things have changed since then, much remains the same. The dogs are gone, and the house has a different flair, but the meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards and the precision in the cellar have, if anything, become even more perfectionist under his direction.” Joel B Payne, Vinous The Domaine’s only wine that is not terroir- or soil-specific, this is instead produced from the fruit of four vineyards. Two are plots situated away from the Saint-Andelain hill: one a parcel of 15- to 20-year-old vines on flinty-clay soils; the other in the lieu-dit of Les Coques on limestone/marl (white clay) soil. This fruit was blended with young-vine parcels from Le Bois de Saint-Andelain itself. This is always the Domaine’s most direct and accessible expression of Pouilly-Fumé. It is also a wine that has improved dramatically under the direction of Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau and now comes far closer to the other wines in the range in quality and class. It was fermented in a mix of new and three- to four-year-old barrels and then matured in both wood and tank. It’s a layered and creamy Dagueneau with white peach and ripe pear fruit, some daisy florals, and gently nutty, lees-derived complexity.