1995 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py, 3-bottle Lot

Jean Foillard and his wife Agnes became the proprietors of Jean’s family vineyard in 1980. The 35-acre domaine has parcels outside of Villié-Morgan in the prestigious Beaujolais appellations of Morgon and Fleurie. Jean was influenced early in his career by the traditionalist vigneron techniques championed by Jules Chauvet, the late, highly influential Beaujolais negociant who believed in natural winemaking. As Chauvet advocated, Foillard carefully tends his old vines, banning all herbicides and pesticides, harvesting late and taking a very minimalist approach in the cellar. The domaine wins compliments from reviewers. Wine Advocate has noted that the domaine’s wines “are wonderful, life-affirming expressions of Beaujolais…If you are still under the misguided belief that Beaujolais cannot make world class wine, then you have not tasted the wines from Jean Foillard.”

Cote du Py is a famous vineyard on the slopes of Morgon’s central Mount du Py. The soil is a hard black schist, meaning coarse-grained metamorphic rock made of layers of different minerals. Of the 10 crus of Beaujolais, Moulin-a-Vent and Morgon are considered to have the finest terroirs.

The Gamay grape produces a light, versatile and food-friendly wine. It is best known for making Beaujolais Nouveau, but it is also grown in Loire and Tours. Thankfully the 14th C. Duke of Burgundy’s degree to ban the grape did not spread through all of France.