Domaine Didier Dagueneau Buisson Renard 2023

Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2023
Type: White

There are few winemakers in history as bullish or brazen, roguish or renegade, as the Loire Valley’s Didier Dagueneau. High-standards, incredible risk-taking, impeccable attention to detail, zealous allegiance to his terroir, and a willingness to take a stand against convention made this once-professional motorcycle sidecar racer the stuff of legends. Born in the Nièvre, where Burgundy meets the Loire Valley, Didier was the fourth generation in a family of winegrowers. 

Buisson Renard is sourced from a cool, mid-slope terroir on the southwest side of the Saint-Andelain slope. The vineyard area is actually named Buisson Menard, as was the wine originally, but a wine writer mistakenly reviewed the wine as Buisson Renard. ‘Renard’ means fox in French and ‘buisson’ means bush, so the error gave the wine a name that sounded like ‘fox bush’ or ‘bush of the fox’.   This was barrel fermented and aged in Dagueneau’s bespoke, cigar-shaped barrels (450 and 600 litres) which are designed to increase lees contact. As always, this is a wonderfully layered and textured wine, perhaps with even more fat than normal, superbly contained thanks to the wine’s acidity and extract."