Didier Dagueneau

Didier Dagueneau (1956[1] – 17 September 2008[2]) was a winemaker in the Loire Valley who received a cult following for his Sauvignon blanc wines from the Pouilly Fumé appellation. He died on 17 September 2008, in an ultralight plane crash in the Cognac region of France.[3] He is survived by two children with his ex-wife Martine, Benjamin and Charlotte, who work at the domaine, and two children with his partner Suzan Cremer, Aaron and Léon.[4]

One of the Pouilly Fumé wines taken over by Dagueneau's son, Benjamin.

Winemaking

Dagueneau was born in 1956 in Saint-Andelain, Nièvre, Burgundy.[1] His winery with 12 hectares (30 acres) of vineyards[1] was in the town of Saint-Andelain, in Pouilly Fumé. He was seeking to make "the best Sauvignon blanc in the world".[2] He made a variety of different cuveés, including Buisson-Renard, Pur Sang (French for "pureblood"), Asteroïde, and Silex ("flint"). Somewhat unusually for the appellation and grape variety, many of his wines were meant for cellaring and some had a clear influence of oak. He was also developing vineyards in Jurançon.[4]

An ex-motorcycle racer with no formal enological training [5] Dagueneau clashed with other winegrowers about "typicité" ("typicity" or "showing its origin") while achieving unprecedented prices for the region.

His vineyard practices were a combination of the exacting (extremely low yields, hand harvesting in multiple passes[5]) with the unusual, such as using horses to plow the soil between vines.[6] He was described as a risk taker and an experimenter, with perfectionist attitudes to his work, cutting yields severely to achieve greater ripeness.[7]

References
  • Le Point (September 18, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau, le célèbre viticulteur, est mort dans un accident d'ULM" (in French). Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
Footnotes
  1. Styles, Oliver, Decanter (21 January 2008). "Didier Dagueneau". Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Styles, Oliver, Decanter (September 17, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau dies". Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Dressner, Joe, The Wine Importer (September 17, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau RIP". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Molesworth, James, Wine Spectator (September 18, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau Dies in Aircraft Crash at 52". Archived from the original on January 11, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Friedrich, Jacqueline, Wine Spectator (May 31, 1995). "Rebel With a Cause: Didier Dagueneau's outspoken manner ruffles feathers in the Loire, but his convictions advance the quality of Pouilly-Fumé". Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Robinson, Jancis, JancisRobinson.com (September 18, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau's final flight". Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Asimov, Eric, The New York Times: The Pour (September 18, 2008). "Didier Dagueneau Killed in Plane Crash".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.