2019 Coulee de Serrant
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Tasting notes
Produced from seven hectares of vineyards aged from 40 to 50 years old, Joly’s 2019 Clos de la Coulée de Serrant opens with a clear, bright yet enormously dense and complex bouquet of crushed stones, herbs and fine but dense and multilayered fruit that needs air to open up, yet it shows its class immediately. On the palate, this is a rich and intense, full-bodied, tight and concentrated yet elegant and stimulating salty Chenin with firm tannins intertwined with a crystalline acidity that carries this highly complex icon wine to a long and compact yet elegant finish. There is a remarkable purity, freshness and energy in the aftertaste that you sometimes might have missed in former vintages. Virginie Joly insisted I taste the wine again on day three and day seven to detect all its dimensions (she says this for all her wines), and I agreed on that. However, even on day one, the 2019 reveals itself to be one of the greatest vintages I have tasted from this family monopole, which is on steep, south-facing slopes on shale outcroppings (schist) interspersed with quartz. The finish is enormously dense, intense and structured and certainly very, very long. We are in the category of what Markus Molitor describes as "physical drinking," and his three-starred Riesling Auslesen is so incredibly impressive. The 2019 Clos de la Coulée de Serrant is doubtlessly one of the great wines of this planet and one of the stars next to 1989 and 1995 (unfortunately, I haven't tasted the 2013 and 2015 yet). The 2019 comes in with well-integrated and certainly natural 15% alcohol. Tasted in May 2021.
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The fruit in the 2019 Coulée de Serrant is so superlative that it ought to get a perfect 100. However, something happened between the vine and the glass that has made it a bit funky, compromising its beauty. It's a little barnyardy and has aromas of cider apples, which throws up a few question marks, though the texture and structure are impeccable. Offering excellent weight, roundness and density, this wine conveys a sense of being at ease with itself and not trying too hard – perhaps that's something to do with the biodynamics. The phenolics are beautifully handled, providing just the amount of grip and fine-grained texture that you want from a dry Chenin Blanc. The finishing fragrance is all apples and florals. An outstanding wine from an exceptional site, but this songbird's voice has been slightly muffled.