Flying ultralight planes was typical of Dagueneau. At other times in his life he raced motocross and ran sled dogs. He was a risk taker and an experimenter. But most of all he grew wonderful grapes and turned them into Pouilly-Fumés that were wholly unlike any others.

He brought all of his risk-taking, experimental, perfectionist attitudes to his work. Where others were content to harvest high yields of barely ripe grapes, Dagueneau cut yields severely and sought greater ripeness. He worked intensively in the vineyard and experimented relentlessly in the cellar. He did not shy away from criticizing his neighbours, which made him unpopular and controversial, but the quality of his wines was undeniable, as were the high prices he fetched for them, so he was greatly admired as well.

Tasting a Dagueneau wine for the first time was a revelation. His Sauvignon Blancs had an unexpected purity and clarity to them. The flavours were intense but nuanced. It wasn’t the fruit that was piercing, as in so many Sauvignon Blancs, but the freshness and the focus. As powerful a personality as he was, his wines did not exalt the stature of the winemaker so much as the beauty of the terroir.” – Eric Asimov – New York Times – September 18^th 2008

“The Mad Dog”, “the Wild Man of the Loire”, “a man possessed”, Didier Dagueneau was a famously outspoken French winemaker whose forthright views made him many friends among the more iconoclastic winemakers and writers. His fondness for New World wines gained him admirers outside Europe too. But it was not only Americans who raved about Dagueneau’s talents: even Professor Denis Dubourdieu of the University of Bordeaux, and the greatest authority on the Sauvignon Blanc grape that was Dagueneau’s idiom, referred to him as “one of the greatest winemakers of his generation”.

Other authorities were prepared to state categorically that he was the world’s greatest exponent of Sauvignon Blanc wines. His wild tongue was matched by an even wilder, Viking-like appearance: standing over six foot tall, he sported a mane of hair, often wrapped up in exotic, brightly-coloured bandanas, and a bushy beard streaked with grey. His death has robbed French wine of one of its most prominent characters. – London Times – September 18^th 2008

In and around the village of St. Andelain, just outside of Pouilly-sur-Loire, Didier Dagueneau makes some of the most unique and interesting wines in the world. His craft is the ultimate fusion of modern winemaking and ultra-traditional techniques of vineyard management. He does nothing half way, and thus his wines achieve the ultimate expression of terroir, climate and technique.

This icon of a winemaker tends his Pouilly Fumé vineyards making every attempt possible to respect the life and the soul of the soil.  His goal is to produce wines from vineyards farmed using the same techniques that the old-timers of the village used when they were producing those memorable wines of which we only read about. He literally is on a crusade to redeem the reputation of authentic Pouilly-Fumé. To tend these vineyards, he employs twice the number of employees than a conventional winery would use for the same acreage. And with these workers, his goal is to produce, on the average, 75% of the yields common to his neighbours. A horse is used to plow certain parcels where he feels that the compacting of the soil by the tractor’s wheels would hurt the vines. Dagueneau, ever the perfectionist, attends to every detail, from vineyard management (biodynamic since 1993) to the cellar, which looks like a cathedral.

Often somewhat closed in their early youth, these are high-acid wines which should be cellared like the great white wines of Burgundy. It is after a couple of years in the bottle that they expand, open up and literally explode with dimensions of fruit and terroir found in no other wines.

This is Dagueneau's Grand Cru if you will. Produced only from plots high on the slopes of Saint Andelain, and only from vineyards that possess high amounts of silex. Vines here range from 15-50 years of age and are cropped to lower yields than in some other vineyards. Barrel fermented and aged in 450, 600 litre and cigar barrels. New oak in this bottling is similar to the Pur Sang. Because of the lower clay content in the soil, this wine tends to be more austere in its youth than the Pur Sang which explains why it often receives lower scores in its youth from wine journals that rate how a wine drinks today. Do not be fooled! Those familiar with older vintages of Silex will attest to the fact that if given the time in bottle, it will always rise above the rest.