Didier Dagueneau
Sancerre Le Mont Damne
Loire Valley
2017

The producer

The Dagueneau domaine is located in the hilltop village of Saint-Andelin in Pouilly-Fume. 12 hectares spread over several plots around the village are planted exclusively to Sauvignon Blanc.

Didier Dagueneau was born into a winemaking family in 1956 but decided to break away and become a motorcycle race driver. He raced competitively in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but then following two successive crashes was forced to stop and thus decided to return to his home village in the Loire Valley. Rather than joining the family farm though he decided to set up his own business in Pouilly-Fume. He acquired his first vineyard (the 1.2 hectare ‘En Chailloux’) in 1982 and began making wine under his own label that same year.

Didier was one of first in the region to experiment with single vineyard wines, later in 1985 he acquired ‘Bois de St Andelin’ (which gives fruit for the ‘Silex’ cuvee) and then in 1988 ‘La Folie’ (which gives fruit for the ‘Pur Sang’ and ‘Asteroide’ cuvees). In the years that followed more land was acquired, highlights of which are ‘Les Monts Damnes’ in Sancerre (acquired in 2000) and the ‘Les Jardins de Babylone’ site in Jurancon which is made with friend Guy Pautrat.

Didier Dagueneau was a maverick, he didn’t care about tradition and wanted to do things his own way. From the outset, he was on a mission to establish Pouilly-Fume’s reputation for Sauvignon Blanc of the finest quality. And it didn’t take long for his wines to start having a cult following; today these are some of the most sought-after white wines of wine lovers and collectors globally.

In 2008, tragedy struck, when Didier was killed in a plane crash, just 52 years old. His son Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau (5^th generation) took over the running of the Domaine along with sister Charlotte. The first vintages he produced was 2008 and 2009 – both of which are testament that Louis-Benjamin has clearly inherited his father’s talent for making wine. 

The vineyards – which are farmed organically and biodynamically but without certification – are farmed meticulously with an average of one full time worker per hectare (this ratio is rather unique and likely only found in the top Burgundy estates, but unlikely in the Loire Valley). Wines are fermented with wild yeast in 500 litre demi-muids barrels to ensure a delicate and reserved oak influence. The family has worked closely with top coopers to create very low-toast barrels that offer the right nuanced balance between lees contact and oxygen exchange. Usually, the wines spend a year maturing in the demi-muids and then 5-7 months in tank before bottling.

All the wines have an intense crystalline purity and clarity and are truly some of the finest Sauvignon Blanc wines in the world. They can be drunk on release but often benefit from 5-10 years of ageing to reach their peak – although they can easily last for at least twice as long.

The wine

Dagueneau acquired the small, half-hectare vineyard plot in the late 1990s, and produced the first vintage in 2006. Mont Damne has very chalky soils which famously resemble those of the Chablis region further east, and which gives the wine an incredible fresh and powerful tension and minerality. Wild yeast fermented and allowed to mature in old demi-muids for 5-7 months before release, this is arguably Sancerre’s most famous wine, certainly the one most in demand.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.