It’s certainly a polarizing cuvee. Counselor, you’re often rolling the dice with the CdS, but if you get a good one, it’s all winning all the time. Some previous notes:
From June, 2014, the 2006:
"2006 Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant
At my instruction, Tran decanted this for 12 hours the night before. I’m glad we did. nose starts out speaking of kumquat and buttertart raisins. But some flowers and some other tropical fruits phase through the aromatics. And it’s so unique, so finely unique. Such a tactile wine. You’ll never claim elegance, but hard to not want to keep tasting through the night–which is what we did, tasting through edges of dragon fruit, apricot and fig, then switching briefly through sweet yellow raspberry, then back to some more dried fruit and settling on yellow plum. For pure pleasure, the dessert wines won. But for pure quality? This is the WOTN for me."
Same wine from April 2017
“2006 Nicholas Joly Coulee de Serrant Some beeswax inserts itself into plenty of yellow fruit, maybe a bit of sweet corn too. This has some go-gear to it on the palate the first night, but I am left unsure as to whether this bottle is at the edge of its maturity drinking window. The next day, the flavours have still held on but it’s gotten stricter. An interesting puzzle for sure.”
From April 2018, with a Chablis prelude needed for context:
"2012 Louis Michel Chablis 1er Cru Forets
My bring and, sadly, my last 12 Chablis. Last one was a good 'un. Lime and lemon aromas with slight touches of slate, limestone. This is a real beauty dans la bouche—it is clean yet with a gentle creaminess and a very pure lime note coming through. That purity is exalted by the arctic char tartare that they served this with–magical match. This is drinking superbly right now and is a delight and yummylicious exemplar of Forets.
2001 Nicholas Joly Coulee de Serrant
and it didn’t hold even the tiniest candle to this wine, which is bottled magic and easily the best Coulee I’ve ever had. Decanted for 2 hours or so and it was the perfect chimaera in the glass aromatically. We started with fresh maple sap, but then it led through a quince-and-melon stage and then, by the end of the night, balsam, walnut oil and fig had taken their place. The palate is a match for the nose, with “quiet authority”—the finish is sneakily long, really takes the back of your mouth and lasts forever. Tran and I had an exquisite duck dish which was very flavourful—but which only served to heighten the effect of the Coulee, which stood its ground wonderfully. I know Joly doesn’t always get it right, but this vintage and this bottle? He sure as chivalry got it right. Shudderlicious and a sure entrant in the WOTY listings for me. I think I could coax a 94 or 95 out for this wine."
April 2018 (later that week):
“2009 Nicholas Joly Coulee de Serrant
So this, on the heels of the incredible 01 we had on Wednesday, was a great study. It finds itself sitting in my mouth for a long time as I assess it. We do realize it’s quite younger so we let it slow-ox for a day and a half. That said, this is certainly on the idiosyncratic side of how he makes wine. Sort of a bitter buttered pear thread if that makes any sense, along with some lanolin, this just doesn’t knit together. Nick put it best, perhaps—recognizing the quality, he finds it hard to enjoy the wine. I would need to agree.”
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