2020 Didier Dagueneau Vin de France Blanc Etc…

Place: Loire Valley, France

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Farming: Organic

This is produced from four vineyards. Two plots are young vines on the Saint-Andelain hill in the climat, Le Bois de Saint-Andelain. The other two sources aren’t on the ‘hill’; one is a parcel of 15- to 20-year-old vines on flinty/clay soils, and the other is on limestone/marl (white clay) soil in the Pouilly-Fumé lieu-dit of Les Coques. These sites combine to produce the domaine’s most direct and accessible expression of Pouilly-Fumé. It is also a wine that has improved dramatically under the direction of Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau to become far closer to the quality and class of the other wines in the range. Fermented in a mix of new and three- to four-year-old barrels, the wine matured in wood and steel tank.

‘The 2020 Blanc etc. is developing into a mellow style with the richness of the vintage showing. It is what the French would call gourmand and, close to three years after being harvested, has entered a delectable stage of its evolution. Yes, it's still young but has improved and opened up since tasting a year ago. It now offers baked apple, honey and pastry flavors while retaining freshness. It is long and concentrated with a firm sense of structure, doing the mouth equivalent of providing a firm, reassuring handshake, likely due to the clay-flint soils, which make up two-thirds of the blend.’ -Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous