🦄 UNICORN WINE - VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND IN THE USA

The wines at Domaine Didier Dagueneau deserve their rightful place among the great “singular” wines of the world. Eric Asimov, in his obituary of the late Didier Dagueaneau in the The New York Times, seemed to sum it up well: “Tasting a Dagueneau wine for the first time was a revelation. His Sauvignon Blancs had an unexpected purity and clarity to them. The flavors 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.”

THE LAST CALVAIRE MADE BY DIDIER*

Clos du Calvaire is, as the Clos in the name suggests, a small walled vineyard completely restored by Dagueneau a few years ago. Vines are planted very densely here, at over twice the normal density for Pouilly. A horse is used to plow the land, and the vines are planted on their own roots rather than rootstock. Needless to say, all these (slightly nutty) considerations result in juice that is extremely concentrated and intense. This is the third release from this difficult vineyard. The first was 1999! Mind blowing sauvignon blanc here, folks. And like nothing else in the world.

95 CellarTracker

Decanted. Yoghurt, ripe peach fruit, smoky, light matchstick. Linear and so balanced. Still too young. 10/22/2025

QUICK STUDY ON DAGUENEAU

• One of France’s great, iconic estates, making singluar, age-worthy Sauvignon Blancs from the appellation of Pouilly-Fumé.
• Didier Dagueneau was one of the first in the region to experiment with single-parcel wines, starting with “En Chailloux” in 1982, and later “Pur Sang” in 1988. 
• Vines are farmed meticulously, with an average of one full time worker per hectare, which is unheard of except at top domaines like Bize-Leroy. The cellar is pristine, very cold, and home to many cutting edge experiments like the rare hermetically-sealed glass “wine globe”.
• Today, the domaine is run by fifth generation Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau, whose curiosity and drive have further soldified the domaine’s place in the upper echelon of the wine world. 

* Sadly, on September 17, 2008, tragedy struck, and Didier was killed when his plane crashed near Cognac. The world mourned at the loss one of its visionary winemakers who was 52 upon his death.

Didier was survived by his son and daughter, Louis Benjamin and Charlotte. Both had grown up at the winery, and in recent years, Benjamin had worked alongside his father in the vineyards and cellar and had very much absorbed his perfectionist attitudes and practices. Nonetheless, there were enormous shoes to fill, and the wine world watched with quiet reserve to see whether there would be any questions about the succession of this great estate.

However, after seeing the truly remarkable results in both the 08 and 09 vintages, it was clear that the winery would not miss a beat at Benjamin’s helm. In fact, when asked, many journalists and winemakers seem to mutter under their breath that in a few short years the son may have already surpassed qualitatively the remarkable achievements of the father?!