Domaine Didier Dagueneau Silex 2022

“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 flinty whiff. Silex, after all, means flint in French.” 94 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

La Revue du Vin de France (Green Guide): 96 points

The world’s greatest Sauvignon Blanc.

If anyone wonders why this domaine is so famous, this wine holds all the answers. Silex is the ultimate Dagueneau wine in many ways: super-mineral, pure, crystalline and typically 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—neutral glass vessels that avoid reduction and allow for lower SO2 levels. Because of the soil type and the concentration of the mature vines, this wine is always intense and often austere when young, typically requiring several years (between five and 10) to truly express itself.