Coulée de Serrant

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils, derived from schistose and schisto-arenaceous formations ranging from the Upper Ordovician to the Lower Devonian, are generally shallow (20 to 40 cm), low in fertility, and very stony.
• Volcanic dykes cut through the subsoil locally; the original acidic material has produced rhyolites.
• The Mauges massifs to the west create a foehn effect that reduces annual rainfall to around 600 mm, compared with more than 800 mm on those hills, the difference becoming more pronounced from June through to harvest.
• The Loire acts as a thermal regulator on the immediately adjacent slopes, maintaining elevated night-time temperatures and encouraging, in autumn, the morning mists that favour the development of Botrytis cinerea.
• The appellation, with a total area of 6.87 ha, is divided into three plots — the grand clos de la coulée, the clos du Château, and les Plantes — arranged on either side of a valley oriented south/south-east.

• The vineyard was planted in 1130 by Cistercian monks and has been marketed continuously under the name "Coulée de Serrant" ever since.
• The harvesting of Chenin in an advanced state of over-ripeness, sometimes in several successive passes, is a historically documented practice in this vineyard since the early nineteenth century.

• The colour ranges from straw-yellow to golden-yellow; the nose evokes quince, apricot, peach, or dried fruits, mingled with spiced or smoky aromas.
• On the palate, richness and aromatic concentration provide volume, while the finish is marked by minerality and freshness, with an ageing potential of ten to twenty years.

• The thin soils (0.15 m) over a schist bedrock, combined with the topography of the slope and the proximity of the Loire, yield a modest harvest of perfectly ripe fruit.

Facts drawn from the cahier's terroir-link section (Lien au terroir) by automatic interpretation — see the source.

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF) — approved 23 novembre 2011, JORF 24 novembre 2011
• Official trade body site — InterLoire