Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant
The epitome of Chenin Blanc every wine enthusiast ought to try at least once in a lifetime
In 1977 after a successful career start in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in New York upon graduation from Columbia University, Nicolas Joly chose to return home to Savennières in Loire and become a winemaker. He continued with studying oenology in the University of Bordeaux and was keen to adopt modern agriculture to family vineyards. Soon he got very disappointed with this idea as he saw how quickly it destroys nature. Instead, he turned his eyes to biodynamics later to become the world famous guru and the author of 3 published books on the subject. Joly gained a cult following among both the growers and wine lovers.
Coulée de Serrant is a 900-year-old vineyard planted by Cistercian monks and always remained in vine since. This 7ha enclave is the monopoly of the Joly’s family estate Château de la Roche aux Moines. Its steep south-facing slopes oversee the Loire river. Once converted to biodynamics in the 1980s, this picturesque oasis remains the living example of biodiversity. All kinds of native plants, high grass, a variety of insects and even birds’ nests within old Chenin vines. Vineyards are carefully ploughed by horse and partly by hand.
During the harvest time one could easily spot a smiling man with wire-rim glasses running up and down the vineyard hills with a big funnel shaped plastic container behind the back.The “nature’s assistant” as Nicolas Joly calls himself helps the pickers to transport grapes. Harvesting period can take 5 weeks as only the bunches with ultimately ripe grapes are picked with each passage. Other bunches remain maturing to be collected later. The ideal berries have a deep golden color, almost amber, and often touched with ‘noble rot’ of botrytis. Joly believes that this is when chenin fully expresses its deep personality. That is only possible as no chemical treatments against rot…
