Domaine Didier Dagueneau Pur Sang 2022

“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.” 93 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

La Revue du Vin de France (Green Guide): 94 points

Pur sang is French for ‘thoroughbred’. The label evolved from Didier Dagueneau’s frustration at how often wine writers referenced the fact he used a horse to till some of the vineyards. The first iteration of the label was a photographic representation of a horsehide rug!

This is rightly considered one of Dagueneau’s superstars—although, in truth, all his wines are superstars. It comes from a densely planted, 30-year-old vineyard in Saint-Laurent-l’Abbaye called La Folie (madness). It’s hidden between two parcels of woodland about five kilometres north of Saint-Andelain. Local farmers thought Didier Dagueneau was mad when he purchased the land; it was not a vineyard at the time and was full of huge boulders.

It turns out Didier had done his homework. La Folie was a historical Pouilly vineyard with very interesting soil—a vein of pure flint and silica-rich clay sometimes called chailles roulées—and its gently sloping, south/southeast exposure made it potentially one of Pouilly’s finest plots. This site not only ended up being the birthplace of Pur Sang but also the source of the ultra-rare Astéroïde cuvée, which is made from 18 rows of ungrafted vines.