Few names carry as much weight in natural Beaujolais as Jean Foillard. From the slopes of Morgon he helped prove that Gamay, made with minimal intervention, could be profound.
Backstory
Foillard began making wine with his father and released his first vintage in 1981, setting up in his own name in Villie-Morgon in 1985. Inspired by Marcel Lapierre and the teachings of the scientist Jules Chauvet, he became one of the so-called Gang of Four alongside Lapierre, Guy Breton and Jean-Paul Thevenet, the importer Kermit Lynch's name for the growers who rejected chemical farming and heavy cellar manipulation in favor of older, purer methods.
The Region
The domaine is in Morgon, one of the ten Beaujolais crus, in the granitic hills of southern Burgundy. Its heart is the Cote du Py, a celebrated slope of decomposed schist and granite outside Villie-Morgon that gives Foillard's flagship its structure and depth.
Vineyards & Farming
Foillard works old vines and farms as close to organic as possible, abandoning synthetic herbicides and pesticides, harvesting late and sorting fruit rigorously.
Winemaking
Following Chauvet's principles, he ferments with indigenous yeasts using whole-cluster carbonic maceration, adds little or no sulfur and avoids chaptalization, bottling without fining or filtration.
The Wines
The range centers on Morgon, led by the renowned Cote du Py and the Corcelette cuvee, with a Beaujolais-Villages and other bottlings rounding out a portfolio prized for transparency and longevity.
