Nicolas Joly sees life on earth as a gift

From GNM no. 1 (English edition), 2013. This article was published in the print magazine and is reproduced here in its original form. Facts and figures were correct at the time of writing.

Nicolas Joly is one of the world’s leading biodynamic wine-growers. For 30 years he has explored the biodynamics, written books on the subject and travelled the world to get his message across. Good News Magazine met with him in his home at Château de la Roche aux Moines, the place from where the energy emanates.

By Mari-Louise Paulson Photo Maria Macri

We are fortunate with the weather, the sun is shining on fields of vines, cypresses, cows and most importantly on the Loire, the longest river in France, cutting through the landscape, creating one of the world’s most interesting wine districts. The Loire Valley is renowned for its silicon rich and limey soil, or terroir as it’s referred to in wine language, and for the large variety of grapes such as Muscadet, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to mention the most common white grapes. Among the blue there are the Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Grolleau. In Loire are cities such as Orléons, Tours, Angérs and Nantes like a string of pearls towards Saint-Nazaire on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Also, it is in Loire that most takes place in the field of biodynamic wine.

Much of this can be accredited to Nicolas Joly, who during 30 years of intense labour has made his Château de la Roiche aux Moines one of the most successful vineyards of the Loire Valley.

Three exclusive wines are produced here from the Chenin Blanc grape: Coulée de Serrant, Clos de la Bergerie and Vieux Clos, all ranked high by wine connoisseurs around the world. They are also available in restaurants with profiles far from what’s commonly associated with the supposedly bohemian nature of biodynamic agriculture. The farming method – created by Rudolf Steiner, philosopher and esotericist, founder also of anthroposophy, anthroposophic medicine and the Waldorf pedagogy – is often surrounded by tales of cows’ horns in the ground, mysticism and disorder, but to those who use it; a minor revolution.

The circle of life

In short, biodynamic agriculture emphasizes the holistic development and interrelationships of the soil, plants and animals as a self-sustaining system. A way of thinking that strives to create complete cycles on a small scale by constructing and strengthening the ecologic systems existing in the soil. Steiner also replaced artificial fertilizers with nine substances that through cosmic powers influence soil and plants and therefore can be used against vermin, and to increase growth. Not too “hot” perhaps, but that is an image Nicolas Joly is eager to participate in changing. At least concerning biodynamic wine, its taste, quality and perhaps most importantly its innate honesty – that the contents of a bottle is a gift from nature, as Joly puts it, with no additives neither during the cultivation process nor during the maturing.

“Life on earth is a gift. I don’t get bills from my vine or a cow that with great generosity can give 8,000 liters of milk per year. If through processes you can make the cow produce 18,000 liters, you ruin the cow. You get milk but of poor quality and you destroy the system, however in saying this you oppose the entire financial system and become a nemesis to society,” says Nicolas Joly, aka Mr Biodynamics, or simply Count Nicolas Joly – using his formal title – upon receiving us in his beautiful office and library in the main building, wearing earth tones and Birkenstocks on bare feet, speaking with energetic and avid gestures.

“Putting shoes on is such a drama to me because I want to feel earth and gravity,” he says laughing.

His laughter is drowned by the barking of hunting dogs behind the closed kitchen door and the 15 year old and totally deaf Golden retriever, Luna, whose loud barks make up for her lack of hearing.

Here are loads of books, amongst them his publications on biodynamic winemaking, translated to 13 languages as of today. In addition there are photos of so called image-creating test methods, also discussed in his books, a comparison of plants grown conventionally, organically or biodynamically using biocrystalization. Well, a bit aloft perhaps, but we are dealing with an anthroposophic method of analysis also created by Rudolf Steiner and used by those researching biodynamic agriculture. They interpret the innate qualities of the plant through crystal patterns that form when a mix of sap and copper chloride evaporates. The quality of the plants can then be seen.

This has led a team of Swedish researchers to spending time studying how the quality of the soil at the vineyard correlates to the quality of the grapes. The quality of which derives from the fact that Nicolas Joly uses strictly biodynamic principles of agriculture, which puts a ban on chemicals and pesticides. Instead he uses natural remedies, making the calcareous soil of the Anjou-Saumur vineyard ‘happy’ as he puts it.

Understanding bio and dynamics

At the farm cows, goats, hen and donkeys roam free and the fields are often plowed by Nicolas Joly himself, or one of his three helpers, using a horse. In the end, everything affects the wine. He farms the soil carefully. Where other vineyards might push the soil to the maximum, Joly always lets some of the fields lie fallow. To keep the vine healthy and vermin free he makes infusions from chamomile, nettles and bark from oaks, numbers 503 through 505 of the Steinian preparations, subsequently sprayed on to the vines. A small amount of copper is used, three to five kilos per hectare and year, plus a minor amount of sulphur. The latter however is slowly being replaced by milk or whey.

“You can push the limits using crops and flowers that you find to have a good effect. When it’s cold, the soil can be nurtured using a plant that has a lot of heat. When the sun is too strong and the heat too aggressive, I bring seaweed familiar with how to keep the salt from incinerating. It acts in the same way that sun lotion works on your skin. That’s exactly what biodynamics is; bio is life and dynamics is energy. It’s all about understanding the systems; that these take care of all life on earth and that you yourself can act as an accelerator,” he explains.

Nicolas Joly says that when growing and harvesting is done properly, nothing more remains to be done in the wine cellar. Thus his resistance to referring to himself as a winemaker, since his art is the continuous interaction between him and the land he is farming. In this, the moment of harvest is crucial.

“To harvest is like removing the painting from the artist, because once a grape is removed from the vine nothing more can be done. The all important question is when the grapes are perfectly ripened. That’s why we go check on them four, five times at a rather advanced stage of maturity. Many winemakers know all there is to know about fermentation, but have no understanding of the vine. I am interested in such things as how the leaves act; in what direction do they move?” he says.

‘Appellation Contrôlée L’Oréal’

The wine is stored in old wood barrels with as little human interference as possible, just natural yeast and careful filtration. This is a method that has shown very good results. The wines from Coulee Serrant all have different labels of origin, or Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, AOC, the French quality labeling used primarily for wines, but also for other commodities. The foundation for the system was laid as early as 1905, but today’s labeling was formulated by Baron Pierre Le Roy De Boiseaumaieé at Château Fortia in 1923. It stipulates a number of rules for farming areas constituting the foundation of contemporary labeling conducted by the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (previously the Institut National des Appellation d’Órigine) INAO.

A somewhat simplified way of explaining this is that the appellation status is determined by how detailed and specified the geographic place of growth is reflected by the wine. The labeling is based on where the wine has been grown, and not on the grape, as is common when we refer to the wines of the new world.

Certain vineyards, such as that of Nicolas Joly, have one or two AOCs of their own. And since any change in the farming and production also affects the taste – back to nature, if you ask Nicolas Joly, but where the INAO is of a different opinion – many biodynamic farmers are not given the classification. This is important in order to facilitate sales and pricing, especially since biodynamic wine production is considerably more costly than its conventional counterpart.

“The idea of having an Appellation Contrôlée is amazing for all wine consumers, but in the current situation, with all chemical additives and the use of flavored yeast, the labeling is all but ruined. If we were speaking of cheap table wines I wouldn’t care, but when you see the large, well-known names full of cosmetics, you cannot call them AOC, you have to call them ’Appellation Contrôlée L’Oréal’,” he says, laughing, and continues,

“It’s not honest to those who will drink the wine. The consumers ought to have the right to know what the beverage contains. If you stick to the truth and say that the taste stems from added yeast, then people won’t be fooled in the way that they are when you say that ‘this Beaujolais has a wonderful flavor of banana,’ as a famous winemaker has put it for years. I’m sorry to tell you, but the Beaujolais has no natural flavor of banana.”

It’s all energy

According to Nicolas Joly, the taste of the wine stems from the energy and movement created in the grape through the changes of the seasons.

“In spring the days are longer than the nights and that is the sun’s victory over the earth, but in the fall the days shorten and the earth starts to reclaim the energy. That movement ends up in the grape. No matter how hard one tries, this cannot be scientifically recreated. That’s the reason wine made with the use of artificial fertilizers and flavoring turns out like a dead hand.

“The energy of life and the knowledge of the forces of life and how they affect the earth is absolutely crucial – a knowledge that is lacking today, when we live in an era of materialism where all is dictated by rules that are not true to nature,” according to Joly.

Château de la Roches

His own journey back to nature begun before he was born. Château de la Roches aux Moines also incorporates the Joly family residence, the monastery of Vieux Serrant. It was built by a group of Cistercians monks, who on this location planted the first vines in 1130. Ever since, winemaking has been continuing to a larger or smaller extent and has been enjoyed by numerous famous persons. Among them can be mentioned King John of England, author Alexandre Dumas and the gastronomer Curnonsky, creator of the Guide Michelin, to mention but a few.

In 1962 Paris surgeon André Joly, the father of Nicolas, purchased the castle. The parents viewed it more as a country residence than an opportunity to produce wine. Nor, then 17 year old, Nicolas Joly, one of two sons, was very interested, despite being trained in hunting and fishing; the latter a training that provided solid understanding of nature that later was to come to much use. No, in those days his dreams and career ambitions were much different.

Entering and leaving the financial system

In the early 1970s Joly went to America to study at Columbia University and upon completing his education became a stock broker at J.P. Morgan.

“I was intrigued by the people in finance. I remember my stock market analysis teacher having made 100,000 dollars in shares, and it was an impressive amount at the time,” he says.

At first Nicolas Joly worked in New York, where somewhat surprisingly he got into meditating, though without knowing that that was what he was doing, he says. He was transferred to the London office a few years later and there met his wife Maria, the daughter of an ambassador whose life and upbringing is a tale to be told in and of itself.

Nicolas Joly is 31 years old, he has worked for one of the world’s leading financial institutions for six years. He has money to buy what he wants and to do what he wants, without having to consider the cost. In his life he has a woman who he loves. Life ought to be grand, but there is something bothering him. In the office there is another Frenchman, 20 years his senior, with a long career in the company. He is treated like a king, travels first class, has a private secretary, tailored suits, a fancy office. One night as Joly stays late at the office, the other Frenchman swoops in. Their gazes lock and for some reason the older of the two feels obliged to say something, ‘You think I am king, but I’m not. I am a slave and J.P. Morgan knows it. They pay me a lot, but the money makes me a slave unable to quit. I am less free than anyone else here.’

A seed of doubt was planted and kept growing. The last month at work, Joly spent plenty of time at the numerous museums in London. His secretary covered for him and always told his wife that he was in important meetings when she called. For Nicolas, it was a done race.

“I had a phone call from my boss telling me I got a promotion. Thank you, but I quit, I said. Thinking I had misunderstood the offer he said, ‘No, you’re promoted, not fired!’ I explained that I had understood, but wanted to quit; that I’d rather live broke the rest of my life than continue this charade,” he says.

Fate and Rudolf Steiner

With his wife he returned to the Loire Valley to venture into agriculture. Thus far, the wine production had been conducted by his mother, with moderate success, but as of now, things were about to change.

“I returned here in 1977 to implement modern agriculture, to become a modern leader and a modern man. For two years, I used horrible plant killers. Not such a long period of time, but still. I remember all the changes, how the soil crackled, the gradual absence of birds and insects, how I turned the music off. I wasn’t aware of it, but the effect was detrimental,” Nicolas says.

Something had to be done, but what? The earth didn’t speak his language. Something, fate, intervened. During a ski vacation Joly was given a book written by Rudolf Steiner on biodynamics.

“I had never heard of Rudolf Steiner, but thought to myself, ‘This is a great man who died unknown, and it’s my duty to try to recreate what he taught.’ So I tried, but had little success at first. Eventually I realized there was already a system and people who were growing things according to the principles of biodynamics,” says Nicolas.

Learning step by step

Thus began his inner journey away from modern agriculture and its chemically assisted farming, away from the stock market, towards the interaction between the sun, the gravity of the earth, nature and the use of the photosynthesis instead of artificial fertilizers. One day at a time, with baby steps. Nicolas Joly describes the early days as ’somewhat naïve’, but adds that once you work with nature, it is forgiving. He is helped by the knowledge gained through hunting and fishing, the bulk of Steiner’s techniques of philosophy and biodynamics, and The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar, by Maria Thun, that takes into account the cosmic rhythms for farming.

“The process was painful, since I was constantly questioning what I was doing, and was never sure. I was convinced, however, that I could’t farm the conventional way, because it was not true to the soil. But no one around me seemed to care or understand that chemical additives and artificial fertilizers bring bad side effects. They acted like a sailor dumping trash in the ocean believing it will go away,” says Nicolas Joly.

He describes artificial fertilizers as ‘salt for the soil’. It makes the soil thirsty, demanding an increase in irrigation causing the crop, in this case the vine, to grow at an unnatural pace. Does this seem familiar? Imagine winter tomatoes or broilers full of water but lacking in taste and nutrition. It can be done for a period of time, but eventually we will have reached a point when the soils have been so depleted, nothing can grow anymore. That’s when the soil crackles, turning gray, hard and dead.

“I understand the necessity of adding something if you farm in a country with inferior vine or terroir, but in countries such as France, Italy and parts of Germany, Austria and Spain where the terroir is amazing? Why the hell don’t you express the unique qualities of the location and the climate through the wine?” he says.

A criticized pioneer

He continued with his effort, often questioned and criticized by neighbors wondering what he was up to. What was the use? Nicolas Joly says it was a difficult process, mainly since he in the early days was the only one in this endeavor.

“I didn’t have a plan, I just did things out of a sense of necessity. The first few years are also very hard on the vines, since you don’t have the protection that you get from chemical pesticides and the plants still aren’t strong enough to resist the forces of nature. It makes them very vulnerable. And what makes people return to conventional farming is any setback caused by a vermin attack.”

He himself persevered. His parents gave him free rein, though, he says, this probably stemmed from an attempt to support their son rather than a genuine interest in biodynamics. For instance his mother never bought organic food. The critique from neighboring farms remained harsh.

“Some in the food and beverage industry realized early on that biodynamic farming was a danger to them. They said, ‘What are you doing?’, ‘This is mysticism, a sect, stop it – you are a hippie, a relic from the 60s.’ Come on, if 50 years ago you had told people about mobile phones, they would have found that incomprehensible,” he says with emphasis.

Learning patience

Back in the early 1980s when Nicolas Joly first started, industrialized agriculture and wine production peaked and to France, who provide 20 percent of the total of the global wine export, a lot of money, power and influence were at stake.

“It was obvious to me that people didn’t want to see that what they had been doing for years and claimed to be high quality was not quality at all,” Nicolas Joly says.

What made him continue was what he refers to as invisible help.

“I discovered an amazing world, powers beyond the physical level, the power of the solar system, and that being in that environment provided enormous strength. That is most likely the key to my success, without which it would never have worked,” he says.

The inner journey of Nicolas Joly deepened as the soil regained its health. The vines produced a wine increasingly place specific, with the flavors unique to the terroir of his estate. The seven year process was painfully slow, he says, “I’m an impatient person, but had to learn patience.”

Also, he was isolated from others using the principles of biodynamics, though eventually the practitioners started to find one another.

“I studied for Xavier Florin, agronomist and specialist in biodynamics, who was the only one speaking, thinking and teaching the subject. It was amazing. We were a group of about 20, who started our classes at his house and continued out in nature. We looked at everything. He’d pick up a stone and say, ‘look, here’s gravity’ and go on like that. I just absorbed it all. In four hours we’d have moved four meters,” Nicolas Joly says, laughing.

A new taste of life

Accompanied by his vines he faced the changing light and climate of the seasons passing, and like the crops he noted that after a night’s sleep you wake up spirited by the sun; after a day of hard labour you get tired and are pulled down by gravity. In the same way that the roots of the vine venture deep into the soil in order to absorb energy, nutrients and minerals, Nicolas Joly was rooted in the new life.

“When you leave your physical body you become energy and are linked to everything on earth. But when you feel separated from the rest of the world, you are in an ego process, and then the access to another world is not possible. The more you give back to nature, the more power you receive, so I figure it was probably my attraction to nature that kept me going. Who knows? It had to be done,” he says, throwing his arms out to the sides, falls silent and ponders for a while before continuing,

“Then there’s the quest of improving the wine. I use an example from marketing – it’s the same phenomenon as when you approach a bakery and smell fresh bread – the closer you get, the more you want it. Wine did the same thing to me, the closer I got to the true wine, the more I desired it.”

In his books, Nicolas Joly writes of ‘the unique qualities of each plant’ and with the 14 cultivated hectares of the vineyard it’s not hard to see that getting to know each vine may take some time.

People paying attention

“I started in 1980 and had my first crop harvested in 1984, but not until the late 80s was what I was doing noticeable. In the late 90s it was better still and now that all has fallen into place, it’s almost magical. It’s enormously interesting to see how everything is ordered now. That I continue is just like when members of an orchestra keep tuning their instruments before a concert. ‘Come on, they’re tuned already’, you think to yourself, but the musicians know they can improve the sound just a little still,” he says.

The turning point, or that people started to pay attention, came as the quality of the wine improved.

“The truth is in the market. As soon as you sell, those who tried to destroy you smile at you and want to join the club,” he says.

Times are changing

Though Nicolas Joly’s philosophy still divides people into those for and those against, the times and the political agenda are different. Certified organic food is available everywhere in the western world, biodynamic farming is increasing and people are aware of our natural resources being finite.

Even in big cities, people live with and care for the locally farmed and both local and global environment. Joly taught himself first, and then started to teach. During recent years he has, as before mentioned, written several books on biodynamic wine growing that have been translated to 13 languages. He has travelled and held lectures all over the world, and subsequently conquered new ground. Not only among wine connoisseurs, instead many of those who come to the lectures are other wine makers and sommeliers who are of course in close contact with the end consumer, to whom he is eager to get the information across.

“In the early days, almost every one I met was a sceptic. Today it’s completely different. Many young people are interested. In Chile, where I held lectures, 90 percent of the audience were younger than 30. I did a course in England, that is generally very much against biodynamic agriculture, 90 sommeliers participated. I asked for five hours and was granted half of that. When two and a half hours had passed, they said, ‘we want a full day’. It’s always the same, people start out being skeptical and end up wanting to know more. They know that something new has to come and I feel there are forces behind this working for the truth,” Nicolas says.

Return to terroir

He uses an example of a wine tasting that some of the 176 members of the Renaissance des Appellations, the organization founded by Joly in 2001, was doing.

“We had everything against us, the wine didn’t make it to its destinations for some reason, so we had to smuggle it in our suitcases. Grown people breaking into cold sweat when scrutinized by the stern customs officials. But we got through, and the tasting became such a success the electricity had to be cut to get people to go home.”

Renaissance des Appellations, or Return to terroir, which describes what they do, is present in 13 countries with members in all wine districts in France, Europe and the rest of the world. The network claims an increasing amount of Joly’s time. Helping him however, is one of his two children, the daughter Virginie, who works for the company.

The organization exchanges knowledge and arranges joint wine tastings. In its statutes is stipulated that the entire vineyard is to have been ecologically certified for no less than three years before membership can be applied for, that all 300 varieties of flavored yeast are banned and that the wine, with which membership is applied for, is to be approved by a group consisting of some of the worlds leading biodynamic wine growers.

Together they lobby for a quality control labeling of biodynamic wines, ‘true wines’. And Joly spends more and more time creating a discussion about why the AOC is refusing biodynamic wines.

“I have written to them to say that I will arrange a blind test to compare 10 of their quality labeled wines to 10 of the biodynamic wines that are not granted the label to see which really deserve it,” he says.

Passion and commitment

And there it is again – the spark, the passion that keeps him going.

“I’m profoundly disgusted by this system that is forced upon young people. I can’t stand it! I feel it’s so insane that you have to react. Something else urging me on, is that I was shocked by the prevalent lies presented everywhere, that are in no way beneficial to human kind on a deeper level. Sure, it sounds like madness, but madness has many qualities and we all contribute in what ever way we can,” Joly says.

Whether it’s to do with wine, politics or the market forces he feels a change is imminent. There are growing audiences at his seminars, newspapers are writing about him, other wine growers are approaching him because they are interested in turning to biodynamic farming. But it’s a slow process.

“When I see people trapped in materialism, I can’t help but wonder what happened. What do you need to live? I need my Birkenstocks and then that is my luxury. You always have to stay true to yourself and not be seduced this way and that. The more receptive you are to the forces of nature, the more you can emanate, and I just let everything come to me. People are reunited with their own humanity and discover that material things do not really matter. This is part of what Steiner wanted to get across. The way I see it, this year is the year of the truth, regardless if we look at medicine, politics or agriculture,” he says with great conviction.

Nicolas Joly’s advice on how to live in harmony with nature to a greater extent. “My advice would be to try to get back to basics, The system that we have now can easily be disrupted. Ask yourself what you need. A home with roof and stove might be enough. In nature there is so much joy, like sitting outside listening to birds, the rippling water is amazing, or to pick flowers up in the mountains.” “Realize that the education and the knowledge that you possess is inadequate. Strive to gain more knowledge and search your inner depths to find it.” “Find out why you are on earth and what you are meant to do here. The deep process of listening to oneself. You have an innate knowledge of what to do and where to go. At times you are tempted to forget that, but then you are probably not heading in the right direction.”