How special is this 7 hectare Chenin Blanc vineyard? It is one of only 3 vineyards in France that is an appellation unto itself (the others are Romanee-Conti in Burgundy and Chateau-Grillet in the Rhone). Sections of the vines are 100 years old. The vineyard was planted by Cistercian monks in the year 1130. Joly refuses to use clones and takes cuttings from his oldest Chenin vines when he must replant to conserve the typicity of the vineyard. The grapes are picked by hand in up to 5 passes. 2015 is the 884th consecutive vintage of this wine. Difficult cork. Too cold at first. Yellow gold color. Waxy texture. Fuller body. More aromatic when it warmed. A round texture with excellent depth. Notes of peach pits apple cider and spices. Really wonderful white wine. I previously had the 2013 and thought this bottle was better. 96 points.
I opened a 2002 Joly Clos de Bergerie last year and it showed very well. (My notes: “Totally clean and sound – mature but not tired. Viscous, honeyed, very interesting. 90-ish.”) I was a bit surprised, since he had a reputation for producing some very funky, even faulty, wines in that period.
It’s a new generation in charge now, though, I think.
Back to the topic at hand! I had a 2014 Coulée de Serrant about 6 months ago that was really excellent. This wine is so good when it’s on. It can be a gamble though- many bottlesnoxidize early. Glad you got a good one!
2014 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant blind…guessed Chenin from South Africa…this was fresh and SO interesting…creamy pears and totally Mcdonalds apple pie! Wax and lanolin…loaded with salty minerality, lemon sours, herbs…a lot going on here…beautiful wine! 94pts
New generation very much the same as the old generation! I’ve been tasting these wines every vintage for too long now and although when Virginie got more involved I looked for and really hoped to find a better wine, within a few years it was clear that nothing was going to change. Recent vintages “make themselves” and are still laden with botrytis and alcohol in many cases, and there was even one showing mouse taint a couple of years ago. A great shame as I agree with comments on the potential of the terroir.
Seems like wine geeks respect the high potential but are not stocking up as they would for other prestige wines, because these problems are so well-established and universally-known at this point.
And they are rather expensive for the casual consumer to buy at any regular rate.
With my geek’s hat on, hopefully forgivable for such an erudite forum, the wine isn’t comparable to the Burgundy grands crus listed as the appellation (simply Coulée de Serrant since 2015, before that it was a cru of the Savennières appellation) takes fruit from three vineyards, of which the famed Clos de la Coulée de Serrant (which is 3.985 hectares, to be precise) is just one. The other two vineyards account for the remaining 3-ish hectares and sit on the opposite side of the coulée (valley).
The terroir is great, one of France’s most astonishing vineyards and one of a surprisingly small number with a direct view down onto the Loire (which you can find elsewhere in Savennières, e.g. Eric Morgat’s Clos Serteaux, but not in other appellations), but there are a lot of missing vines when last I photographed it (a few years ago, admittedly). But the timing of picking, the inclusion of so much botrytised fruit and the approach to vinification are all topics worthy of reflection.
I would echo the ‘bit of a gamble’ sentiment. FWIW, I haven’t had what I believe is a sound bottle of Coulee de Serrant here in the NE of US. I’m sure it’s a great wine, but if they can tidy up their distribution chain a bit…
