Notify me
2021 Fleurie
Jean FoillardFresh hay on the nose, wet wheat field and moss. Light and living, charged with herbs, cranberry, and strawberry.
Jean’s wines, like the Beaujolais itself, have a way of bringing you squarely home. Each cuvée is unmistakably from here. The wine smells like the earth right before it rains and tastes like the pine forests high on the hills and the wild fruits in the underbrush. With vines unaltered by herbicides or pesticides, and every grape cluster twisted from the vine by hand, this is pure Beaujolais, and there is nothing better.
—Katie Dodds
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | Fleurie |
Country: | France |
Region: | Beaujolais |
Producer: | Jean Foillard |
Winemaker: | Jean Foillard |
Vineyard: | 45-50 years, 1 ha |
Soil: | Pink granite |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12% |
More from this Producer or Region
2021 Régnié
France | Beaujolais
Savor it while you can, because your glass will be empty before you know it, leaving you only with the spicy, mineral-laden aftertaste of a bottle that went down way too easily.
2022 Morgon
France | Beaujolais
Silky and perfumed, with no rough edges, this is dangerously swallowable.
2021 Côte de Brouilly “Cuvée Zaccharie”
France | Beaujolais
Give the wine a moment to open and you’ll find it unwind, silky and lush with the familiar whispers of juicy blackberries and a bit of hibiscus.
2021 Juliénas “Beauvernay”
France | Beaujolais
An electric lightning bolt of Gamay from a steep, windy hillside.
2021 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
France | Beaujolais
If Beaujolais were Burgundy, we might consider Morgon to be Vosne-Romanée, with its haunting perfume and silky texture, the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.
2021 Régnié “Grain & Granit”
France | Beaujolais
Here is a rich, bold Régnié, saturated with luscious fruit and earthy spice.
2020 Morgon “Eponym”
France | Beaujolais
This cuvée shares the satin texture of all Foillard Morgons, and should age similarly well for those willing and able to wait.
2021 Morgon “Eponym”
France | Beaujolais
This cuvée shares the satin texture of all Foillard Morgons, and should age similarly well for those willing and able to wait.
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
France | Beaujolais
If Beaujolais were Burgundy, we might consider Morgon to be Vosne-Romanée, with its haunting perfume and silky texture, the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.
2020 Côte de Brouilly
France | Beaujolais
Alex Foillard fashions a Côte-de-Brouilly that strikes a deeper register, saturating the senses with tooth-staining fruit, gritty earth, and just a touch of the good funk.
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.
More from Beaujolais or France
2022 Morgon
M. & C. Lapierre France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais
Domaine Dupeuble France | Beaujolais
2022 Vin de France Blanc “Perle de Gamay”
Nicole Chanrion France | Beaujolais
2022 Moulin-à-Vent “Vieilles Vignes”
Bernard Diochon France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Fleurie
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Beaujolais Blanc “Terrain Rouge”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2021 Régnié
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Côte de Brouilly
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2020 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon
M. & C. Lapierre France | Beaujolais
2022 Beaujolais
Domaine Dupeuble France | Beaujolais
2022 Vin de France Blanc “Perle de Gamay”
Nicole Chanrion France | Beaujolais
2022 Moulin-à-Vent “Vieilles Vignes”
Bernard Diochon France | Beaujolais
2021 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Fleurie
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2021 Beaujolais Blanc “Terrain Rouge”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2021 Régnié
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
2022 Morgon “Vieilles Vignes”
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
2022 Côte de Brouilly
Château Thivin France | Beaujolais
2020 Morgon “Eponym”
Jean Foillard France | Beaujolais
Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch