Nicolas Joly - Savennières Coulée-de-Serrant 2016

Bettane & Desseauve

About the domain :

La Coulée de Serrant is a wine-growing Eden, a place where life exults. Nicolas Joly, a pioneer of biodynamic viticulture, has made his wine a world-renowned brand. He can also count on the vision of his daughter Virginie to continue raising this estate to the top. Four hectares in Savennières and four hectares in Roche-Aux-Moines, a vineyard grazed by sheep, pecked by chickens, worked by hand, in symbiosis with nature. Observation, experimentation, model viticulture and a must-see estate.

Guide Hachette des vins

About the wine:

Limpid and brilliant with pretty golden reflections, Coulée de Serrant 2016 presents itself with elegance. Often reserved for the first nose, it appears here very open, very complex, offering aromas of ripe white fruit, candied orange, pear in alcohol, white flowers, chlorophyll, aromatic herbs and dried plants that give it an air of chartreuse. These aromas are echoed on the palate, which is soft on the attack, full-bodied, rich and dense in its development, with a fine trace of acidity and mineral tones. The finish stretches out on magnificent bitters. A wine of inimitable depth.

About the domain :

This venerable 7-hectare vineyard, planted with old chenin vines clinging to schist slopes, was created by the Cistercians in 1130, and is one of the few monopoly appellations in France. Strengthened over the centuries by illustrious and crowned connoisseurs, its aura has taken on an international dimension since Nicolas Joly, the French "pope" of biodynamics, presides over its destiny, accompanied today by his daughter Virginie. The wine derives its original, unique character from grapes harvested at over-ripeness - or botrytized - in four or five passages. In the cellar, we don't use new wood to mask the terroir, but rather 500-l barrels. And as little intervention as possible.

Guide des Vins Gault & Millau

About the domain :

Nicolas Joly is now accompanied by his daughter Virginie. Without touching the father figure, we must admit that the wines have become more precise and delicate in recent years. La Coulée de Serrant is now at the height of the quality of its terroir. A schist terroir that gives the wine length, precision and subtle sparkle. The wines need time and, above all, aeration.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

Immense aromatic reserve from this Chenin with a strong personality. It takes us on a phenomenally energetic ride, where the earthy, luminous sap advances crescendo on the palate to a fine, extremely invigorating tannic structure. Naturally, this distinctive character will be divisive, but it will leave no one indifferent.

About the domain :

The exceptional Coulée de Serrant vineyard stretches along the edge of a schistose cliff falling directly into the Loire, near Angers. The nature of the site and the quality of its exposure have enabled it to stand out from the crowd for centuries. Restored by Denise Joly in the 1960s, the estate was taken over by her son Nicolas. This brilliant agitator of ideas is a fundamentalist of biodynamic viticulture, which he has made his own at La Coulée de Serrant since 1981, when it was first certified. Nicolas Joly's daughter Virginie looks after the estate. While the latest vintages are endowed with a valiant intrinsic energy, aromatic deviations can spoil the purity that could be revealed by these mythical Loire terroirs.

James Suckling

Le Figaro vins

About the wine:

Just revealed, the 2016 looks very promising, even if it will need a few years of patina to fully reveal itself to the taster. On the nose, you can smell honey and just-picked fruit (apricots, white peaches), with minerality taking over with aeration. The palate is full and ultra-vive, already charming and long.