Domaine Didier Dagueneau Vin De France Astéroïde 2022

Three bottles only shipped! Dagueneau’s mythical Astéroïde has been called the Holy Grail of Sauvignon Blanc. Made only 2-3 times a decade, it is Dagueneau’s rarest wine. Didier used to bottle Astéroïde in 500ml bottles—and it remains as rare as hen’s teeth. When the vintage is right, it is made in microscopic quantities from 18 horse-ploughed rows of ungrafted vines rooted in the flinty chailles roulées of the La Folie vineyard (see Pur Sang). These vines resist phylloxera as best they can and must be replanted every 15 years or so. Didier would traditionally harvest this wine very ripe; I would imagine that Louis-Benjamin is picking a little earlier than his father. He is also making the wine in glass Wineglobe, which only heightens the tension. For the few that have tasted it, Astéroïde is noted for its aromatic intensity (in the ripe citrus and botanical range), chiselled texture, high-wire tension and alluring minerality. A baroque Pur Sang. Drinking it young would mean missing out on the profound mineral expression this wine can possess with age.