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Light honey and hay notes, spice, preserved fruits, truffles, crème caramel and gooseberries, reminiscent of a dessert wine combined with a dry white wine. Structured, textured, fresh acidity and dry, clean and long finish.
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Nicolas Joly has always joked, "It took all my diplomatic skills to explain to my wife, who is the daughter of a German diplomat that she'd gone to bed with a banker and awakened with a hippy farmer." Joly, guru of biodynamic grape farming in France, is a Columbia MBA alumnus, who left a high-flying finance job to help his mother run the family business – that of making Loire Valley wines. He enrolled in a winemaking course in Bordeaux and began to make wines thereafter. But it was on a skiing holiday when he came across a book by Rudolf Steiner, the German advocate of biodynamics. He then adopted the principles of biodynamics.
Joly is quick to point out to likely followers that biodynamics as a practice is as old as agriculture. It assumes that one is at the mercy of nature and has a scientific and logical basis. Biodynamics places emphasis on the individual character of vineyard sites and how to draw out the best from the vine. Healthy, well-structured soil that is rich in humus, high in biological activity and sustainable, is one goal. Grapevines are pruned, treated with natural preparations and grapes are picked according to a seasonal 'astro' calendar.
In the cellar, nothing is done to the wine except a light filtering. Essentially, what all this means is that a great deal of attention is paid to appropriate climate, soil structure and water for grape growing. This approach of non-interventionist winemaking is indeed a hallmark of exceptional quality wines produced biodynamically or otherwise.
I tasted a 20-year-old bottle, and for a white wine, it was still lively, fruity, and youthful. Is it because of the biodynamic methods used? I can’t say for certain but I can tell that one of the best wines from the Loire Valley, is that of Nicolas Joly's. 
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