2009 Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau et Guy Pautrat Les Jardins de Babylone Jurancon

Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau is the son of the late, legendary Didier Dagueneau. Guy Pautrat is a long-time friend of the Dagueneau family. Didier and Pautrat collaborated on a sweet Juracon wine, and Pautrat has continued making and marketing the Jurancon wine with Louis-Benjamin, one of the Dagueneau children now in charge of the famous family domaine. Domaine Didier Dagueneau is a 30-acre estate in the Loire Valley that produces white wines with a cult following. It was founded by Didier Dagueneau, a fourth-generation winemaker who was also a champion motorcycle racer and dog-sled racer before settling down in his native village of Saint Andelain just outside of Pouilly-sur-Loire in 1982. For nearly 30 years Dagueneau, a self-confident iconoclast, blended modern winemaking techniques with traditional vineyard management to make Sauvignon Blancs that became some of the world’s most coveted and admired white wines. Dagueneau died in an ultra-light plane crash in 2008, but his son and daughter, Louis-Benjamin and Charlotte, have taken over the estate. The Wine Advocate and other reviews continue to give the wines made under the Dagueneau fils high ratings and compliments. The estate makes Fume de Pouilly, Sancerre and other whites. It also makes wines from vineyards in Jurancon.

Jurançon is an appellation nestled at the base of the Pyrenees in southwest France. Though little-known to many wine drinkers, Jurançon has produced distinctive white wines since at least the 14th century, and it was one of the first regions to earn a formal appellation when France organized its appellation system in the mid-1930s. Nearly all the wines here are made from Petit Manseng and Gross Manseng, and the wines are made in dry, sweet and very sweet styles. Regardless of their level of sweetness, all Jurançon wines have fruity aromas of passionfruit, mango and sometimes bananas. The late-harvest, sweeter wines also smell of vanilla. The wines generally taste of honeysuckle and tropical fruit. The late, legendary Loire Valley vigneron Didier Dagueneau was so fond of Jurançon that he made a Jurançon dessert wine he called The Gardens of Babylon. His son and a friend have continued to make this famous “Jardins de Babylone,” which captures the hedonistic essence of the appellation.