Jean Foillard "Côte du Py" 2023

Domaine Jean Foillard

Jean and Agnès Foillard took over his father’s domaine in 1980. Most vineyards are planted on the Côte du Py, the famous slope outside the city of Villié - Morgon and pride of them. These granite and schist soils settle on an alluvial fan at the highest point of the city and impart great complexity. At first, Jean began to follow the teachings of Jules Chauvet, a traditionalist who defied everything that the more commercial brands were touting in the region. Jean and three other local vignerons, Marcel Lapierre, Jean -Paul Thevenet and Guy Breton soon joined the movement. This Gang of four, called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification: starting with old vines, never using synthetic herbicides or pesticides, harvesting late, rigorously sorting to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration. The end result allows Morgonto express itself naturally, as it should be without the bubblegum and banana aromas of so many other Beaujolais available today. Its rustic structure, spicy notes, and mineral-laden backbone are what real Morgon is all about.


This vineyard consists of almost 14 hectares. The "Côte du Py" of Foillard is deep, structured and complex, with a velvety texture when young that makes it irresistible despite its aging potential. raises his wines in older barrels sourced from top estates in Burgundy.

 

Wine Advocate #207
Jun 2013
David Schildknecht
91
Drink: 2013 - 2017
$28-$43 (40)


The Foillard 2011 Morgon Cote du Py offered a more settled-down, focused, and convincing performance than its admirable Cuvee Corcelette counterpart tasted alongside. Sealing wax, iodine, and a hint of shoe polish inflect its juicy fruit of black raspberry and blackberry, which as in the case of the aforementioned Corcelette bottling are showed by their distilled essences. Palate-staining and gripping yet smooth and infectiously fruit, this stimulates with parting references to crushed stone, iodine and the crunch of berry seeds. It should continue to perform strongly through 2017 if not beyond, but given their low sulfur and lack of filtration, Foillard’s wines should be drunk young if not being cellared genuinely cool.