Clos de la Coulée de Serrant

Loire Valley, France

Exclusively owned by the Joly family, the Coulée de Serrant vineyard is a controlled appellation of only 7 hectares. The vineyard was planted in 1130 by Cistercian monks and today consists of vines aged from 35 to 80 years old. The old small monastery still exists and a few hundred meters away, the castle of La Roche aux Moines was built and dismantled during the wars of religion.The vineyard is cultivated by hand with the help of horses because of the steep slopes overlooking the Loire. Today, the estate continues to be known for its outstanding wines and its current custodians - Nicolas Joly - the godfather of biodynamics and his daughter Virginie. When Nicolas took over his family's estate in 1977, it was run conventionally like most wine estates of that time. Nicolas explains that his change of tack came down to a book that he picked up on biodynamic farming following his reservations of modern agricultural practices and its effect on nature. Since 1984, the entire estate has been cultivated using biodynamic farming methods. Three wines are produced in small quantities on the property and benefit from the principles of biodynamic agriculture with harvest done passing 5 times in the span of 3-4 weeks to get the best ripeness and to allow grapes to raisin and form botrytis.