Nicolas Joly

A tireless proselytiser for biodynamic farming and wines that speak of their origins, the 2025 Hall of Fame recipient has spent decades encouraging winemakers to embrace sustainability and authenticity, while also putting one of France's most iconic vineyards back on the map

- PROFILE BY BEVERLEY BLANNING MW

The recipient of this year's Decanter Hall of Fame Award is a man who steadfastly beat his own drum until the rest of the world fell in with his rhythm - or at the very least stopped to listen.

Possibly the world's most outspoken defender of terroir, authenticity and 'true' wine, Nicolas Joly - dubbed the 'godfather of biodynamics' - is known for his rousing rhetoric and strongly held views. Since 1977, when he took over the Loire valley's most iconic domaine, La Coulée de Serrant, he has pioneered biodynamics in his vineyards, demonstrating the potential of these methods and bringing others around to his way of thinking. Leading by example, he has encouraged winemakers the world over to focus on the health and sustainability of their vineyards and to produce wines with a genuine sense of place.

At 80 years of age, Joly's passion for his subject remains undimmed. Within minutes of my arrival at his home, he's leaning in to explain: 'You see, you have two sorts of wine: those that are impeccable, achieved by aesthetic surgery, but have no charm, and those that are achieved by biodynamics - which is what the place wants, playing the song that the place wants to play.'

These are themes - working with nature and adopting a hands-off approach in the cellar - to which he returns frequently, along with multiple references to the more esoteric ideas of the founder of biodynamics, Rudolf Steiner.

'Nicolas was the first person who knew how to speak about biodynamics and make it fun and interesting' Olivier Humbrecht MW

Ahead of his time