DAGUENEAU

It’s not often that one feels they are in the presence of winemaking genius, one whose energy and spirit seems to seep out of the bottle and live on. This was the late Didier Dagueneau.

Decanter named Didier as one of the world’s top ten makers of white wine, opining that his expressions “tower over the rest of Pouilly-Fume” and that “he makes brilliantly three-dimensional wines, while too many of his fellow producers struggle to make it to two.” The Sauvignon Blanc wines of this risk-taking Loire perfectionist are legendary.

Meeting an untimely end at the age of 52 in a plane crash, his brilliant legacy has been kept alive by his family via the dedicated and talented hands of his son, Benjamin, and to this day Dagueneau’s Silex is hailed as the pinnacle of Sauvignon Blanc production.

With such a legacy to carry on his shoulders, Louis-Benjamin seemingly had his work cut out. He has, however, risen to the occasion, and under his watch, the Dagueneau wines have, if anything, increased the reputation of the winery as a producer of outstanding quality.

This was arguably an inevitable outcome, given the son's time alongside his father, absorbing the latter's sense of rigour and his meticulous practices in both vineyard and winery. Louis-Benjamin is said to be unassuming, yet quietly confident, inspired to continue his father's agenda to raise the quality all of the wines that Domaine Dagueneau creates.