Nicolas Joly, 2012 Update

Regular readers probably won’t need reminding that I was unable to attend the annual Renaissance tasting in Angers this year. This two-day taste-fest of all things organic and biodynamic is usually held the weekend before the Salon des Vins de Loire, and as a consequence one trip to the Loire gives me five days of tasting opportunities. Not this year though; the two events were separated by an intervening week, and unable to attend both I elected for the Salon. I know others opted for the Renaissance tasting instead, and so it was unsurprising that visitor numbers to the Salon were down significantly (I’m sure other factors, such as disruption to travel caused by the terrible weather, also played a role through).

I was reminded of this at the recent RAW Wine Fair; one of the key figures in the Renaissance movement, alongside Mark Angeli and Lalou Bize-Leroy, is Nicolas Joly, and having missed out on the tasting in Angers I haven’t encountered his wines so far during 2012. At the Renaissance tasting Nicolas (or these days you are just as likely to encounter his daughter Virginie) would have been pouring his 2010s, and as a consequence of my absenteeism this is a vintage I have not yet tasted. So when I saw the name of Clos de la Coulée de Serrant on the line-up at RAW, I made a beeline for his stand, hungry for my first taste of this vintage.

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