NICOLAS JOLY

Loire, France

"I don't only want a good wine, but also a true wine."

The Coulee of Serrant was planted at the 12th century (1130) by Cisterciens Monks and always remained in vine since. The year 2008 was thus the 878th consecutive vintage.

The old, small monastery, which always forms part of the property is classified with the inventory of the historic buildings. A few hundred meters further and adjacent to the vines one can see the ruins of the old fortress of the Roche aux Moines, which secure the Loire and where the son of Philippe Auguste was victorious against Lackland, son of Richard the Lionhert in 1214.

The battle is contemporary of that Bouvines.

Associated with the fortress, a strengthened alley of 300 meters, said the "Cemetrery of the English", also classified, makes it possible to the visitors to see a glance of the vineyard and the Loire downwards, which it dominates.

One fines still al ittle everywhere on these places charged of history, the vestiges of a deep past, including the Celtique time, Romaine and Carolingian. The place since remained famous. Louis XI speaks about it with devotion: "the godl drop." Louis XIV tried to visit a coach which got stuck in the mud, "the sovereign conceived some moods" says the rumor. Maurice Constantin Wyere speaks about it, Alexandre Dumas also, and more recently, in the beginning of the 20th century, Curnosky, the price of the gastronomes, defined it as one of the 5 best white wines of France.

Website