Didier Dagueneau Les Monts Damnes Sancerre 2018 Bibendum Wine Co

Didier Dagueneau had a genius for producing greatness where many thought it could not exist. In his last years, he turned his attention to producing a sweet and dry wine from the Jurançon, an area that he long considered to be chronically underperforming. After a long search he found his perfect vineyard, in 2002, on Jurançon’s central côteaux in the foothills of the Pyrenees, just outside of the village of Aubertin. A ‘vignoble de rêve ” (dream vineyard) as Dagueneau put it, so picturesque that he ended up calling it Les Jardins de Babylone in his typical tongue-in-cheek style (although it really is spectacularly picturesque). All of Didier Dagueneau‘s labels have an element of satire, yet anyone who has visited this spectacular vineyard knows that this name is barely an exaggeration. It’s a steep, terraced vineyard, only a few hectares in size, located in a natural amphitheatre that intensifies the heat of the sun while drawing down the cool evening air from the surrounding mountains. The vines literally seem to hang on to the side of the sheer slope, so the reference to the legendary hanging gardens just works. With its own small cellar, the Domaine ‚– surely one of the world’s smallest ‚– is run on a day-to-day basis by Didier and Louis- Benjamin’s old friend, local vigneron Guy Pautrat (whose name also appears on the label). Despite the tiny quantities produced, this has already garnered a fully justified reputation as one of the world’s great sweet bottlings. An extraordinary, intense, dry wine is also now crafted from the same vineyard. It is equally impressive. – Importer Note