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Didier Dagueneau: The Loire Valley’s Legendary Dissident Conscience - Available Now

Just as the hopeful harvest of a complicated vintage began to take shape in September 2008, news began to trickle in to Pouilly that the plane carrying one of France’s greatest winemakers had gone down in the Dordogne.  Even though this man – the Loire Valley’s great dissident conscience, Didier Dagueneau – had only been releasing his own wines since 1982, he had in short order made an indelible mark on the history of the Loire Valley and on the genre of white winemaking generally.  Thus not only was the tightly-knit wine community of the Centre-Loire shaken by his loss, but the world’s greater wine community was as well.

Didier’s uncompromising standards, rigorous attention to detail, appetite for risk, and fervent desire to make the greatest Sauvignon Blanc in the world are legendary.  But it was his love of his region’s vines that drove him to devote an enormous amount of time, capital, and attention to the cultivation of great, ageworthy wine.  Partly inspired by the likes of Henri Jayer, Edmond Vatan, André Chabanne, Denis Dubourdieu, Claude Thomas, and others, Didier dramatically – and loudly – lowered his own yields and called on his neighbors to do the same.  While often harvesting less than 40 hl/ha, Didier employed an enormous number of workers (reputedly one per hectare) to carefully tend to his vines throughout the growing season.  Didier often employed organic treatments, low yields, selection massale planting on low-vigor rootstock, horse plowing, experimental oak sizes and shapes (e.g. the elongated “cigares”), and other quality-forward methods to produce the most mineral, concentrated Sauvignon Blanc his vineyards could muster.  His are among the world’s greatest white wines.

Thus we want to pay homage to this extraordinary man and the incomparable wines he fashioned.  We are proud to offer a Summer 2015 Auction that features nearly three dozen rare lots of Didier Dagueneau’s wines extending from the 1993 vintage to the 2007 vintage (his last).  The current offering includes the 1995 and 1997 vintages of En Chailloux including both bottle and magnum formats, the 1993-2007 vintages of Silex including both bottle and magnum formats, and the 1993-2006 vintages of Pur Sang.

En Chailloux is a beautiful blend of fruit from several stellar vineyard sites in Pouilly-Fumé.  The Silex emanates from multiple parcels of 50+-year-old vines in silex-rich soils atop the butte above Saint-Andelain and has traditionally been vinified in Dagueneau’s unique “cigare” barrels and then finished in tank.  The Pur Sang is a blend of 30+-year-old parcels grown in richer clay- and silex-rich soils in Saint-Laurent and is similarly raised.

 

Lot 2218. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé En Chailloux 1995. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Estimate: $65.00, Opening Bid: $55.00

Lot 2219. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé En Chailloux 1995. 1 Magnum, 1.5L.
Estimate: $150.00, Current Bid: $110.00

Lot 2231. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé En Chailloux 1997. 1 Magnum, 1.5L.
Score: 89ST
Estimate: $150.00, Current Bid: $110.00

Lot 2217. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1993. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 89WS
Estimate: $70.00, Opening Bid: $55.00

Lot 2216. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1994. 2 Bottles, 0.75L.
Estimate: $120.00, Opening Bid: $80.00

Lot 2215. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1995. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 95WS
Estimate: $70.00, Opening Bid: $55.00

Lot 2214. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1996. 3 Bottles, 0.75L.
Score: 94WS
Estimate: $180.00, Opening Bid: $150.00

Lot 2212. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1997. 3 Bottles, 0.75L.
Estimate: $200.00, Opening Bid: $160.00

Lot 2213. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1997. 2 Bottles, 0.75L.
Estimate: $140.00, Opening Bid: $100.00

Lot 2210. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1998. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 92WS
Estimate: $70.00, Current Bid: $50.00

Lot 2211. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 1998. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 92WS
Estimate: $70.00, Opening Bid: $50.00

Lot 2209. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 2002. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 96WS
Estimate: $95.00, Opening Bid: $80.00

Lot 2207. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 2003. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 92WS
Estimate: $75.00, Opening Bid: $60.00

Lot 2208. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 2003. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 92WS
Estimate: $75.00, Opening Bid: $60.00

Lot 2206. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 2004. 3 Bottles, 0.75L.
Score: 95WS
Estimate: $250.00, Current Bid: $175.00

Lot 2205. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang 2006. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 94+JG
Estimate: $75.00, Current Bid: $60.00

Lot 1429. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1993. 2 Bottles, 0.75L.
Estimate: $170.00, Current Bid: $185.00

Lot 2230. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1994. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Estimate: $80.00, Opening Bid: $60.00

Lot 2229. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1995. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 92WS
Estimate: $120.00, Opening Bid: $80.00

Lot 1428. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1996. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 93WS
Estimate: $120.00, Current Bid: $136.00

Lot 2228. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1996. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 93WS
Estimate: $120.00, Opening Bid: $90.00

Lot 1427. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1997. 1 Magnum, 1.5L.
Estimate: $190.00, Current Bid: $225.00

Lot 2226. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1997. 3 Bottles, 0.75L.
Estimate: $300.00, Opening Bid: $180.00

Lot 2227. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1997. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Estimate: $85.00, Opening Bid: $60.00

Lot 2225. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1998. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 90WS
Estimate: $85.00, Opening Bid: $60.00

Lot 2224. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 1999. 2 Bottles, 0.75L.
Score: 93WS
Estimate: $170.00, Opening Bid: $130.00

Lot 2223. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2002. 2 Bottles, 0.75L.
Score: 95WS
Estimate: $325.00, Opening Bid: $225.00

Lot 2221. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2003. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 93WS
Estimate: $85.00, Opening Bid: $65.00

Lot 2222. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2003. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 93WS
Estimate: $85.00, Opening Bid: $65.00

Lot 2220. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2004. 1 Bottle, 0.75L.
Score: 96WS
Estimate: $85.00, Current Bid: $65.00

Lot 2232. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2005. 1 Magnum, 1.5L.
Score: 96WS
Estimate: $325.00, Current Bid: $225.00

Lot 1426. D. Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex 2007. 1 Magnum, 1.5L.
Score: 94WS
Estimate: $190.00, Current Bid: $195.00