2002 Silex, Didier Dagueneau

2002 Silex

After having the 2008 in Paris, I intentionally went and bought the 2002 at the Caves de Taillevent and brought it home to see if my impressions would change once I had the wine with some age on it. But no. This is a very pretentious wine. In general, I am a huge fan of oaked Sauvignon blanc (which Bordeaux does so much better than the Loire Valley – try Pessac-Leognans for good examples). I much prefer that style to the horrendous cartoon characters of grassy herby sauvignons. But this wine is all style and no substance. Flashy. I know that its creator, Didier Dagueneau, was a much-loved and respected maverick, but I just do not agree about the fuss made over this wine. It is hailed as having great complexity. It does not: it simply has a lot of stuff going on, but these things are not integrated. It talks too much. It is hyper. It is a busy wine but not a complex one. The initial attack is very appealing: a gout de vas reminiscent of aged Chablis and its earthy lees. But the grapefruit-flavoured yeasts and other tropical fruit flavours stick out like a pastiche, like something stuck on with glue as an afterthought. The oak is too dominant, there is a lack of acidity, the finish is short and the overall effect is disappointing.