Domaine Serge Dagueneau & Filles

Advice kept close to the cellar

Valérie Dagueneau reads Sauvignon Blanc from Kimmeridgian marl as winemaker at Domaine Serge Dagueneau & Filles in Saint-Andelain, where the family name still has to pass through the vineyard before it reaches a label. Her father, Serge Dagueneau, remains part of the working structure through advice held near the daily decisions, not placed at a distance as heritage. The estate has been cultivated by the Dagueneau family for more than four generations, and Valérie leads it as a family domaine rather than as a borrowed signature.

The station is Pouilly-Fumé first. That means Sauvignon Blanc under the discipline of place, with Pouilly-sur-Loire giving Chasselas its own line beside it, and Côtes de la Charité extending the register through Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and rosé. The domaine farms 18 hectares around Saint-Andelain and 3 hectares in Côtes de la Charité, a scale that keeps the work legible from parcel to cellar. Valérie’s role sits inside that inheritance: keeping continuity in order, listening to Serge, and making choices that leave the emphasis on soil, season and the family’s cellar practice.

Kimmeridgian marl under Sauvignon Blanc

The estate describes its main terroir plainly: “Our estate is mainly located on a terroir of Kimmeridgian marls. These are marine muds amalgamated with small fossilized oysters.” That sentence does much of the work here. The marl and limestone of Pouilly-Fumé give the wines their mineral line, while average vine age is 40 years, enough time for roots to move through the soil.

The farming follows reasoned culture, with High Environmental Value certification and an ongoing conversion to organic farming. The grapes are harvested by hand, a choice that matters for Sauvignon Blanc and Chasselas because intact fruit carries aroma to the cellar with less abrasion. Pouilly-Fumé Tradition, La Léontine, Clos des Chaudoux and L'Odyssée sit within that frame, with Dagueneau Pinot Noir Les Pinottes showing the family’s work beyond the white appellation line.

A quiet cellar in Les Berthiers

The cellar at Les Berthiers has the tempo of a family estate: tasting, sale, conversation, then back to the work that made the bottles worth opening. The room is not built around spectacle. It is a traditional cellar setting in a calm village atmosphere, with the vineyards of Saint-Andelain close enough that the place of origin is not an abstraction. The Loire Valley here feels practical rather than decorative; the pass is between vine row, cellar and tasting glass.

That closeness shapes the way the wines are understood. A glass of Pouilly-Fumé Tradition can be read beside the family’s Chasselas from Pouilly-sur-Loire, then against the Côtes de la Charité wines that bring Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris or Chardonnay into the conversation. The range is broad, but the hand is still local. The final reference point remains the same Kimmeridgian marl beneath Saint-Andelain.

One vintage held to account

Recognition here stays attached to a bottle, not an aura. Valérie Dagueneau received Guide Hachette des Vins Vin remarquable for Domaine Serge Dagueneau Et Filles Tradition 2023 blanc in 2025, a specific mark for a specific wine from this house. The useful close is the same as the work: follow the next release by its name, its parcel and its vintage, beginning with Pouilly-Fumé Tradition 2025.