Ripe pear and white peach along with sage and fusil chalky notes of crushed stone rise from the glass of Dagueneau 2008 Blanc Fume de Pouilly Silex. On paper this reminds one of 1996 (as Benjamin Dagueneau mentions immediately after I make a note of the fact) boasting - assuming you consider that word appropriate to the circumstances - 14.2% alcohol and well over 6 grams acidity. Lime zest and huckleberry notes serve for the sort of bitter concentration one noted in the corresponding Buisson Renard but here that is imbedded in a far lusher riper context; accompanied by a more refined texture; and without betraying its alcohol in any heat or roughness. "This will be a great keeper" predicts Benjamin Dagueneau and I would certainly not be surprised if it were worth re-visiting for more than a dozen years. Tasting the 1996 along side (a wine whose analysis reveals negligibly less alcohol and acid than the 2008) one is struck by the malt and caramel notes it has developed but I really ascribe that to the more obvious application of oak in those days (which I noted when as it happens I was able to taste this 1996 in barrel) rather than simply to bottle age. -David Schildknecht