Les Vieux Clos provides an inviting taste into the Famille Joly style. The 5.5 hectares vineyard is planted on light slopes facing east in the mountainous AOC Savennières appellation. The soil is different here, with more sand in the first 2 feet. Yields are kept at 25 hectoliters per hectare (well below the 50 hl/ha requirement of the appellation). Unique to this wine in the portfolio, fermentation can be completed partly in tank. The resulting wine provides expressive exotic notes of ginger and coriander balanced with candied pear and an accent of salinity. Les Vieux Clos is often considered the most aromatic of the three wines.

The 2021 vintage is the smallest volume we’ve ever produced. Frost hit badly and by late April about 60% of the crops were lost. The cold weather finally subsided and flowering happened in late June, with good weather conditions and not much disease pressure. A quiet, hot, and dry summer. The berries matured slowly and gained a bit more volume through early September, with the harvest starting on September 27.

The positive side of a late vintage is that the botrytis appears at the end of September with the morning fog of the Loire. The small harvest was finished within 10 days but in very beautiful conditions. Fermentation went smoothly up to January and the wines stayed on the fine lees until final racking, filtration, and bottling at the end of June. The wine is very balanced and elegant.

100% indigenous yeasts, no settling, no temperature control during fermentation and no fining

Golden yellow wines, the nose is bright and complex. Pear, golden apple, and almond on the palate, this wine shows the concentration of the 2021 vintage, with a thrilling tension bringing the finish to great length.