Description
Region: France
Appellation: Morgon/Beaujolais/Burgundy
Color/Style: Red, Light Medium Bodied
Grapes: Gamay
Jean and Agnès Foillard's first vintage was in 1981, but it was in 1985 that Jean began to work differently, influenced by his neighbor, the late Marcel Lapierre. Lapierre followed négociant and microbiologist Jules Chauvet in rejecting selected yeasts and manipulative winemaking in favor of minimal effective sulfur dioxide and carbonic maceration at comparatively low temperatures. Today, Foillard remains true to that approach: His Morgon cuvées see some three weeks of maceration in tank before gentle pressing and élevage in used Burgundy barrels. Chaptalization is eschewed. He also gives his wines a little bottle age before release. Despite his identification with the natural wine movement, Foillard has no tolerance for slovenly winemaking practices or flawed wines, and a large production notwithstanding, his bottles are typically models of aromatic purity and graceful aging.
Founded in 1981 by Jean and Agnès Foillard, most of Domaine Jean Foillard's organically-farmed vineyards are planted on the Côte du Py, outside the town of Villié-Morgon. Spanning roughly 14 hectares, the Foillards’ Gamay vines range in age from 10 to 90 years old. From the importer: "Every year Foillard brings us a flawless Côte du Py, always one of the best three or four Beaujolais of the vintage. The purity and sensuality of a Foillard Morgon is a beautiful thing to behold. If this wine doesn’t convert the most die-hard of anti-Beaujolais fanatics, nothing will, and if it doesn’t, well, I pity their ungrateful leaden palates. A handful of vignerons represent a pendulum swing countering the gallons of plonk that have damaged the reputation of a major wine region.
