Didier Dagueneau VdF Buisson Renard 2020

These days the price of this wine is above Pur Sang, which gives you an indication of how highly the domaine rates this site. Buisson Renard is a cool, mid-slope terroir on the southwest side of the Saint-Andelain slope. Here the soils are a mixture of clay and flint (or silex, as the French call it). The vineyard area is actually named Buisson Menard, as was the wine originally, but a wine writer mistakenly reviewed the wine as Buisson Renard. ?Renard? means fox in French and buisson means ?bush?, so the error gave the wine a name that sounded like ?fox bush? or ?bush of the fox?. Didier Dagueneau fell about laughing and immediately renamed it. Again, this is barrel fermented and aged in Dagueneau?s bespoke, cigar-shaped barrels (450 and 600 litres).

?The 2020 Buisson Renard is made from vines planted on the lower half of a south-facing slope with this part of the world's classic combination of clay and flint soils. However, towards the bottom of the slope, the clay becomes richer, giving rounder shoulders and a great sense of volume on the mid-palate. And yet it remains light. The wine is delicately aromatic with subtle notes of nectarine joining the oak-derived vanilla characters (20-25% new barrels). The finish is precise and long, the wine's fragrance coating the mouth as if taking a seat on the inside of your cheeks.? 92-94 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous