Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau Jurançon Sec Les Jardins de Babylone 2015 Ex-Négociant

Les Jardins de Babylone Sec is the dry Jurançon made by the Dagueneau family in the foothills of the Pyrenees, blended from all five of the appellation's permitted white varieties.

Jurançon lies south-west of Pau on steep terraces below the mountains, and is best known for sweet moelleux wines built on Petit Manseng. The Dagueneau family, whose home base is Saint-Andelain in Pouilly-Fumé, took on vines here and makes both a sweet and a dry bottling. Unlike the moelleux, this dry wine draws on all five permitted grapes: Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng alongside the strictly local and seldom-grown Courbu, Lauzet and Camaralet, the last of which dominates the blend. Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau and Guy Pautrat use both stainless steel and narrow cigar barrels for maturation before assembling the final blend, mirroring their approach in the Loire. The wine is complex and unconventional for the region, carrying the transparency, precision and coolness of the house style over a tender, pulpy core and a driven, mineral finish. Quantities are very small.

With bottle age it has taken on a beeswax character; drink it over the next several years with roast chicken, grilled tuna or a hard mountain cheese, at 10–12°C.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.