Tasting Notes
Rarely exported as there is so little made, we can only get a few bottles of Dagueneau’s Le Mont Damné even at the best of times. It was always Didier Dagueneau’s dream to make a great Sancerre from the legendary, chalky slopes of Chavignol. He was finally able to acquire a half-hectare site in the late 1990s, smack-bang in the middle of the renowned vineyard of Les Monts Damnés (very close to the famed Comtesse parcel belonging to Gérard Boulay). He soon began planting it to his exacting specifications. This location is south-facing and extremely steep, with white soil packed with chalk. The historic name of the parcel or climat (within Les Monts Damnés) is Les Vignes Blanches. Dagueneau notes that despite the aspect, it is one of the cooler terroirs of Les Monts Damnés.
Like the 2017, this is a deep and powerful wine—reflecting both the low yields and the exposure—yet the intensely mineral soils have also brought racy freshness and the precision widely associated with this producer’s wines. This is certainly one of Sancerre’s most expensive wines, and yet, as always, the combination of quality and transparency on offer is priceless. - Importer Note
Didier Dagueneau: the iconoclastic winemaker that changed a variety - Sauvignon Blanc - and a region forever. A rogue by nature, Didier was a thrill seeker and risk taker. Be it motorcycle racing, dog sled racing (which he won European and World Championships competing in) or winemaking, Didier set out to challenge the existing conventions. He applied his relentless drive, impeccable standards and attention to detail to succeed in whatever he set his sights on.
Didier was the fourth generation of winemaker in his family. He was deeply influenced by his father Louis Dagueneau, as well as luminaries such as Denis Dubourdieu, who managed many top estates in Bordeaux, and one of the kings of Burgundy, the great Henri Jayer. We talk about influencers a lot these days - these are the kind of influencers that actually matter. These prominent figures in Didier's life helped shape his style, views and beliefs about the importance of terroir and how best to express it, utilising modern techniques in the winery with a very traditional and timeless approach in the vineyard.
This balance of old and new is what sets Didier apart from so many of the pack. The understanding that the soil is the soul of the vineyard and needs to be respected means extra attention is required in the vineyard at all times. The Domaine employs nearly double the vineyard workers of other wineries in their region. They avoid the usage of tractors in most sites to avoid soil compaction and only minimal application of treatments in the vineyard including copper, which many organic and biodynamic vineyards use far from sparingly!
They crop at yields that are on average 75% lower than their neighbours and all grapes are hand picked and manually de-stemmed. The fruit is gently pressed in the cellar, cold settled and then racked into unique cigar-shaped barrels for fermentation. The wine is then left on lees for a year in oak and racked to stainless steel to rest for another six months. The wines are not fined or filtered so as to retain their purity, and no enzymes are used to treat the wines either.
Upon release the wines are tightly coiled, precise and detailed expressions of Sauvignon Blanc that are closer to White Burgundy in style than any New World Sauvignon Blanc that we know of. Like great White Burgundy and unlike most Sauvignon Blanc, these wines are meant to be aged and with cellaring the wines expand in presence, weight, power and poise. These wines are right at the top of the apex of white wines produced globally, and arguably the best expressions of Sauvignon Blanc produced.
| Product Type | Wine White Sauvignon Blanc |
| Volume | 750ml |
| Country | France |
| Region | Loire Valley |
| Sub Region | Sancerre |
| Winemaking Practices | Natural |
| Vineyard Practices | Organic/Biodynamic |