Nicolas Joly (born 1945) is a French winegrower in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

wine region, and one of the pioneers and leading personalities of the

biodynamic wine Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. Biodynamic wine production uses organic farming methods (''e.g.,'' employing compost as fertilizer and avoiding most ...

movement.

Early life and education

Joly studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and subsequently worked for J.P. Morgan in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

. He was later posted to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, but left banking in 1977 to take over his family's wine estate, Château de la Roche aux Moines in Savennières.

Wine career

At the time he took over the family estate, Joly was sceptical about modern agriculture and the effect it had on nature. He encountered a book on biodynamic farming and took an active interest in the ideas found there, and from 1980 started to experiment with them in his wine estate. From 1981, the estate's top wine Clos de la Coulée de Serrant has been made biodynamically, and from 1984 the estate's entire range has been produced biodynamically.Coulée de Serrant: Fiche Technique
, accessed on July 27, 2009 Coulée de Serrant is among the very few single vineyards monopole to be granted its own

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

; others include

Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, France, with Pinot noir as the primary grape variety. It is situated within the commune of Vosne- ...

, La Tâche, and Château-Grillet. Joly has later written extensively on

production, and has served as an inspiration to many other wine producers who have converted to biodynamic practices. His biodynamic convictions also means that Joly disapproves of the label "

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

" to the extent that his business card is reported to read "Nicolas Joly, ''Gérant de la Société'', Nature assistant and not a winemaker".

Château de la Roche aux Moines

Coulée de Serrant and Clos de la Bergerie

Nicolas Joly and his Château de la Roche aux Moines hold all of Savennières most celebrated enclave, Coulée de Serrant, which is an ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

'' of its own, Savennières-Coulée-de-Serrant. Joly's wine from this appellation is labelled ''

Clos Clos may refer to: People * Clos (surname) Other uses * CLOS, Command line-of-sight, a method of guiding a missile to its intended target * Clos network, a kind of multistage switching network * Clos (vineyard), a walled vineyard; used in Fran ...

de la Coulée de Serrant'' and is often mentioned as one of the world's best dry white wines. The range of wines consists of: * Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, from the appellation Savennières-Coulée-de-Serrant ** In some vintages, a ''moelleux'' (sweet) version of Clos de la Coulée de Serrant is also produced. * Clos de la Bergerie, from the appellation Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines * Les Vieux Clos, from the appellation Savennières. This wine is labelled Les Clos Sacrés when it is exported to the United States. In recent years, Nicolas Joly's daughter, Virginie Joly, has taken over much of the task of running the estate.

Books

Nicolas Joly's writings on biodynamic wines consist of books directed at winegrowers and wine consumers, respectively. His book for winegrowers is called ''Le Vin du ciel à la terre'' and has been through several editions. In its English adaptation for the North American market, it was given the title ''Wine From Sky To Earth''. His book for wine consumers is called ''Le Vin, la Vigne et la Biodynamie'' and was adapted as ''What is Biodynamic wine ?'' in its 2007 UK edition and as ''Biodynamic Wine Demystified'' in its 2008 US edition. His books have also been published in Czech, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.''Coulée de Serrant: Les livres''
accessed on July 27, 2009

References

External links

Coulée de Serrant
website of Nicolas Joly's wine estate

Interview with Nicolas Joly {{DEFAULTSORT:Joly, Nicolas French winemakers Wine writers Anthroposophists Columbia University alumni 1945 births Living people