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The Quintessential Summer Red
The Quintessential Summer Red
by Tom Wolf by Tom Wolf
2019 Beaujolais-Villages
2019 Beaujolais-Villages
Jean Foillard
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais | Beaujolais-Villages
Jean Foillard is, without a doubt, among the most talented vignerons in the Beaujolais. Since we began importing his wines in the early 1990s, Jean has toiled away in his two core crus, Morgon and Fleurie, perfecting the marriage of natural viticulture and winemaking to the region’s noblest terroirs. This combination yields wines that reach, year in and year out, the pinnacle of hedonistic, intoxicating, and soulful Beaujolais.
Jean has recently added another sublime expression of Gamay to his lineup—a Beaujolais-Villages. It’s a blend of carefully selected and organically farmed parcels from across the region that delivers the ultimate introduction to the area’s reds through Foillard’s quintessential house style. He takes the gorgeous hue, heady perfume, and silky texture of his structured Morgons and Fleuries and channels them through a lighter, more ethereal frame. Boasting bright and fresh flavors of black cherries, brambly fruit, and spice, this Beaujolais-Villages is astonishingly versatile, as dreamy alongside the French classics as it is with weeknight burritos or the spicy jambalaya I paired it with earlier this month.
Jean Foillard
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2019 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | Beaujolais-Villages |
Country: | France |
Region: | Beaujolais |
Producer: | Jean Foillard |
Vineyard: | 20 to 55 years old, 7 ha |
Soil: | Granite |
Aging: | Aged 7 months in concrete tank |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
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This cuvée shares the satin texture of all Foillard Morgons, and should age similarly well for those willing and able to wait.
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This Beaujolais offers the drinkability of the most effusive Morgons with the frankness of a chiseled Moulin-à-Vent.
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This cuvée shares the satin texture of all Foillard Morgons, and should age similarly well for those willing and able to wait.
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A relatively new addition to Guy Breton’s Beaujolais lineup, this exuberant Côte de Brouilly is flat-out delicious.
About The Producer
Jean Foillard
About The Region
Beaujolais
After years of the region’s reputation being co-opted by mass-produced Beaujolais Nouveau and the prevalence of industrial farming, the fortunes of vignerons from the Beaujolais have been on the rise in the past couple of decades. Much of this change is due to Jules Chauvet, a prominent Beaujolais producer who Kermit worked with in the 1980s and arguably the father of the natural wine movement, who advocated not using herbicides or pesticides in vineyards, not chaptalizing, fermenting with ambient yeasts, and vinifying without SO2. Chief among Chauvet’s followers was Marcel Lapierre and his three friends, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, and Jean-Paul Thévenet—a group of Morgon producers who Kermit dubbed “the Gang of Four.” The espousal of Chauvet’s methods led to a dramatic change in quality of wines from Beaujolais and with that an increased interest and appreciation for the AOC crus, Villages, and regular Beaujolais bottlings.
The crus of Beaujolais are interpreted through the Gamay grape and each illuminate the variety of great terroirs available in the region. Distinguishing itself from the clay and limestone of Burgundy, Beaujolais soils are predominantly decomposed granite, with pockets of blue volcanic rock. The primary vinification method is carbonic maceration, where grapes are not crushed, but instead whole clusters are placed in a tank, thus allowing fermentation to take place inside each grape berry.
Much like the easy-going and friendly nature of many Beaujolais vignerons, the wines too have a lively and easy-drinking spirit. They are versatile at table but make particularly good matches with the local pork sausages and charcuterie. Though often considered a wine that must be drunk young, many of the top crus offer great aging potential.
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Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171