Triple 'A' producer.
Vignobles de la Coulée de Serrant Savennières Les Vieux Clos 2024 is a biodynamic white wine from the Loire Valley, made from 100% Chenin Blanc on schist-rich soils near Savennières. It is the estate’s most accessible expression of its singular, terroir-driven style—complex, mineral and subtly oxidative in youth, with the structure and acidity to age gracefully for many years.
Technical Details
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Producer: Vignobles de la Coulée de Serrant, Nicolas Joly, Savennières, Anjou, Loire Valley, France
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Wine: Savennières AOC, Les Vieux Clos
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Vintage: 2024
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Grape variety: 100% Chenin Blanc
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Vineyard: Les Vieux Clos
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Vineyard size: 5.5 hectares
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Vineyard aspect: East-facing slopes, sometimes steep
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Vine age: Approximately 25–30 years
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Vine selection: Massal selection, not clonal
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Soil: Schist, with quartz and occasional sand
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Yield: 30–35 hectolitres per hectare, against an authorised maximum of 50
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Production: Approximately 15,000 bottles per year
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Farming: Biodynamic since 1981
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Harvest: Manual, in multiple passes over 3–4 weeks
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Pressing: Gentle
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Fermentation: Spontaneous, with indigenous yeasts
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Ageing: 8 months on fine lees in used 500-litre oak barrels
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New oak: Never more than 5%
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Alcohol: 13.5–14.5% depending on release
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Bottle size: 750 ml
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Serving temperature: 8–10°C
The Producer
Vignobles de la Coulée de Serrant is the estate of Nicolas Joly, one of the pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in France. The domaine has been biodynamic since 1981 and is located on the slopes of the Loire near Savennières, in the Anjou region.
Les Vieux Clos is the estate’s entry-level Savennières, offering an accessible introduction to the house style. The wine is made from massal-selected Chenin Blanc vines averaging 25–30 years old, grown on schist, quartz and occasional sandy soils that give the wine its mineral depth and aromatic complexity.
Vineyard and Terroir
Les Vieux Clos covers 5.5 hectares of east-facing, sometimes steep slopes overlooking the Loire. The soils are primarily schist, with quartz and occasional sand, providing excellent drainage and a pronounced mineral character.
The vines are propagated through massal selection rather than clonal selection, preserving genetic diversity and aromatic complexity. Yields are kept low at 30–35 hectolitres per hectare, well below the authorised maximum, ensuring concentration and terroir expression.
The 2024 Vintage
The 2024 growing season in the Loire was marked by variable weather, with periods of rain and humidity that required careful vineyard management. Despite these challenges, the fruit that remained was in good condition, and the resulting wines show the cool-vintage freshness and mineral tension typical of the region.
For Les Vieux Clos, the 2024 harvest was carried out in multiple passes over 3–4 weeks, allowing the team to select grapes at optimal ripeness and, where present, with a degree of botrytis. This approach contributes to the wine’s complexity and layered fruit profile.
Winemaking and Ageing
The Chenin Blanc is hand-harvested and gently pressed. Fermentation is spontaneous, using only indigenous yeasts, and takes place in either wood or tank depending on the profile of the vintage.
For the 2024 release, the wine was aged for 8 months on fine lees in used 500-litre oak barrels, with new oak kept to a maximum of 5%. This restrained use of wood allows the schist-driven minerality and varietal character of the Chenin to remain at the forefront.
Tasting Profile
Les Vieux Clos 2024 shows a clear golden-yellow colour with bright reflections. The nose is complex and pure, with aromas of ripe white fruit, beeswax, linden flower and flint.
On the palate, the attack is direct and the texture silky, with a balanced acid structure supported by well-integrated richness. The finish is long, saline and subtly spiced, with a faint oxidative note that dissipates with aeration.
Aroma and flavour: ripe white fruit, beeswax, linden flower, flint, apricot, honey, citrus zest, apple and subtle spice.
Palate: full-bodied yet elegant, with silky texture, vibrant acidity, mineral tension and a long saline finish.
Style: a complex, age-worthy Savennières—rich and textured, but driven by schist minerality and a restrained, non-interventionist winemaking approach.
Drinking Window
Les Vieux Clos is released young but benefits from patience. The estate itself advises decanting well ahead of serving and allowing the wine time to open, as young vintages can seem closed or unusual at first.
With its biodynamic farming, low yields and mineral structure, the wine has the balance to develop for a decade or more under good cellar conditions. Serve it cool rather than fridge-cold, at 8–10°C, and allow it time in the glass to reveal its full aromatic complexity.
Food Pairing
Serve at 8–10°C with seared scallops, roasted chicken, guinea fowl, veal in cream sauce, or dishes featuring mushrooms, truffle or white asparagus. Its acidity and mineral structure also suit aged goat’s cheese, Comté and other semi-hard cheeses.
Avoid very spicy or heavily smoked dishes, which can overwhelm the wine’s fine fruit and schist-driven precision.
Collector Note
This is a biodynamic, single-vineyard Savennières from one of the Loire’s most iconic producers. Les Vieux Clos is produced in limited quantities—around 15,000 bottles per year—and its massal-selected vines, low yields and restrained winemaking make each release distinctive.
The combination of Nicolas Joly’s reputation, the schist-rich terroir of Les Vieux Clos and the freshness of the 2024 vintage makes this a compelling choice for collectors seeking age-worthy, terroir-driven white wine with long-term development potential.
Recommended serving: decant 30–60 minutes before serving at 8–10°C; use a white-wine glass or a slightly wider bowl to allow its aromatic complexity and mineral depth to unfold.
Vineyard notes:
"It carries also appellation Savennières. The vines of an Middle Age of a score of years result from selections massales, and not clonales, to increase aromatic complexity. The grounds are primarily made schists but also sometimes of quartz and more rarely of sand. The outputs are of 30/35 hectolitres per hectare (50 authorized)."
Ageing
Ageing in wood and steel tanks.
Harvest Notes
All our grapes are picked in four or five passes as each parcel begins to raisin and form botrytis – thereby allowing the mineral flavors of Chenin to achieve their fullest intensity.
Winemaking
Chenin gets its complexity only when it is fully ripe – deep yellow. And only healthy, sustainable farming can guarantee this without grey rot.
Total Production Volume
15000 Bottles
