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Alphonse Mellot Sancerre La Moussière HALF 2020

Sauvignon Blanc | Sancerre, France

There’s Sauvignon and then there is Sauvignon from Sancerre. There’s Sancerre and then there is Dagenau. Then a pack chasing him. Mellot right at the front of that pack. Beautiful poise, delicacy and vertical long shape to the palate. Lovely bright fruit that has shifted beyond primary to aromas and flavours of intrigue. Crisp fine acid. This is an impressive drink. There’s a little passion fruit and gooseberry if you look for it. Overall it’s just a wonderful seemless Sauvignon Blanc.
$51
$49ea in any 3+
$47ea in any 6+

Alphonse Mellot Sancerre La Moussière 2020

Sauvignon Blanc | Sancerre, France

There’s Sauvignon and then there is Sauvignon from Sancerre. There’s Sancerre and then there is Dagenau. Then a pack chasing him. Mellot right at the front of that pack. Beautiful poise, delicacy and vertical long shape to the palate. Lovely bright fruit that has shifted beyond primary to aromas and flavours of intrigue. Crisp fine acid. This is an impressive drink. There’s a little passion fruit and gooseberry if you look for it. Overall it’s just a wonderful seemless Sauvignon Blanc.
$79
$76ea in any 3+
$73ea in any 6+

Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Satellite 2020

Sauvignon Blanc | Sancerre, Centre Loire

The Satellite comes from vines in Chavignol that are spread of five separate parcels, including the reverred terroirs Le Cul de Beaujeu and Les Monts-Damnés. The low cropping Sauvignon Blanc vines here are between 40 and 80 years old. The juice was naturally fermented and raised in large, mature oak barrels and bottled without filtration. The resulting wine harnesses both the famed texture and natural chalky electricity of the slopes of Chavignol, offering intensity, precision, elegance and
$143
$138ea in any 3+
$133ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Vin de France Blanc Etc 2023

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, France

These sites produce the most direct, accessible expression of Pouilly-Fumé. Under Louis-Benjamin's guidance, its quality has improved dramatically, now rivalling his other wines. Layered and already open, the 2023 offers enormous complexity and pleasure for a young Dagueneau. Of course, it will only get better after 3 to 10 years in bottle.The first bottle of Didier's wines I devoured was a bottle of Silex in 2001 with Doc when I was working with him at Yarra Yering. We were looking to
$312
$302ea in any 3+
$292ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Pur Sang VDF 2022

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

“The 2022 Pur Sang is done in a really sophisticated style. Despite its long élevage, it needs a little more time for its oak (demi-muids and cigar-shaped barrels) to integrate fully and for its sense of strictness to mellow. But this isn't a wine you'd crack open on release anyway. It is pure and clear, with fine texture and a tenderness to its core. The 2022 shows fine lines and length, with tangy green flavors like cornichons and dill meeting green orange on the finish.”Rebecca Gibb
$381
$366ea in any 3+
$351ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Pur Sang VDF 2023

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

Pur Sang, meaning ‘thoroughbred’ in French, originated from Didier Dagueneau’s frustration at wine writers constantly referencing that he ploughed this site by horse. The first label featured a horsehide rug image, if you get the joke. One of Dagueneau’s historic superstars, it comes from a 30-year-old, densely planted vineyard called La Folie (madness) in Saint-Laurent-l’Abbaye. Farmers wondered at Dagueneau buying the land, which was not a vineyard at the time (it had been long ago
$381
$366ea in any 3+
$351ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Buisson Renard Blanc VDF 2022

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

“I’m a bit of a fan of the Buisson Renard. At the bottom of the hill below the winery in the village of Saint-Andelain, there's a greater proportion of clay to flint, giving a broadness to the wine's shape that envelops the whole mouth. In 2022, you can smell the warmth of the vintage and experience its richness and yet its sense of lightness. There's an appealing chew to the wine, and on the finish, a salty residue that makes you want to continue drinking. It retains acidity, line and lengt
$420
$400ea in any 3+
$380ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Buisson Renard Blanc VDF 2023

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

This wine is priced above Pur Sang these days, indicating how highly the Domaine rates the vineyard and the wine. Buisson Renard is a cool mid-slope terroir on the southwest side of the Saint-Andelain hill and the soils are a mixture of clay and flint (or silex). The site was historically named Buisson Menard, as was the wine initially, 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
$420
$400ea in any 3+
$380ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Blanc Fumé de Pouilly 2016

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, France

The first bottle of Didier's wines I devoured was a bottle of Silex in 2001 with Doc when I was working with him at Yarra Yering. We were looking to benchmark for the Dry White No.1, a Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc blend. It was included in a bracket with some exceptional white Bordeaux. Prior Didier's wine I had not been impressed by the Pouilly-Fumé I had tasted, most of it green, weedy, cats piss. Silex was a breath of fresh air.Jefford's commentary sums it up beautifully. “His wines smel
$423
$408ea in any 3+
$393ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Sancerre ‘Le Mont Damné’ 2023

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

Rarely exported as there is so little made, we only get a few bottles even at the best of times. Didier Dagueneau always dreamed of making a great Sancerre from the chalky slopes of Chavignol. It was only in the late ‘90s that he was able to acquire half a hectare of Les Monts Damnés, near Gérard Boulay’s Comtesse parcel, and soon planted it to his own exacting standards. The south-facing, steep site has white soil packed with chalk. The historic name of the parcel or climat (within Le
$511
$491ea in any 3+
$471ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Silex VDF 2022

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

“The 2022 Silex is not a lot of fun upon release; dry and tense, it really needs time to mellow. There's flesh from the clay element of its clay-flint soils, which is felt on entry but tightens up as it moves through the mouth. This remains a wine of drive, firmness and upright structure; it speaks of the place it comes from rather than its variety. Aromatics are almost a forgotten element; this is a wine about structure and texture. There is a lemony, wild goat cheese-like note and a distinct
$513
$493ea in any 3+
$473ea in any 6+

Domaine Didier Dagueneau Silex VDF 2023

Sauvignon Blanc | Pouilly-Fumé, Centre Loire

Silex is the ultimate Dagueneau wine in many ways: super-mineral, pure, crystalline and typically very long-lived. Silex means flint, and this wine is produced only from the flint-rich soils on the north-facing slopes of the hill of Saint-Andelain. The vines mostly range between 35 and 65 years old, and yields are kept lower than in most other vineyards. Silex ferments and ages in Dagueneau’s famed cigar-shaped barrels and other casks, and a portion now matures in 220-litre Wineglobe�
$513
$493ea in any 3+
$473ea in any 6+