Jean Foillard Fleurie 2018

Price: $75.00

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Producer	Jean Foillard
Country	France
Region	Beaujolais
Varietal	Gamay
Vintage	2018
Sku	23929
Size	750ml

 

Many insiders would consider Jean Foillard at the top of the pantheon of great Cru Beaujolias produces. Jean took over his father's domaine back in 1980 and has never looked back preaching the return to old practices of viticulture and vinification. Most of the family's old-vine Gamay is planted on the Côte du Py in the village of Morgon. The purity and depth of Foillard's Gamay is comparable to the finest Cru Red Burgundy. 
The Fleurie bottling is always gorgeous and penetrating sourced from a 1-hectare parcel comprised of 20 to 70 year-old vines that are grown on unique pink sandstone. Traditional whole cluster fermentation that last from 3-4 weeks to preserve the fruit and earth purity. Aged 6 to 9 months in used oak barrels.

 "As I wrote last year, it's an open secret that this is one of the region's finest as well as most consistent addresses, and followers of the estate won't be disappointed by the newly released 2018. Jean and Agnès Foillard's first vintage was in 1981, but it was in 1985 that Jean began to work differently, influenced by his neighbor, the late Marcel Lapierre. Lapierre followed négociant and microbiologist Jules Chauvet in rejecting selected yeasts and manipulative winemaking in favor of minimal effective sulfur dioxide and carbonic maceration at comparatively low temperatures. Today, Foillard remains true to that approach: His Morgon cuvées see some three weeks of maceration in tank before gentle pressing and élevage in used Burgundy barrels. Chaptalization is eschewed. He also gives his wines a little bottle age before release. Despite his identification with the natural wine movement, Foillard has no tolerance for slovenly winemaking practices or flawed wines, and his bottles are typically models of aromatic purity and graceful aging. I regularly purchase these wines for my own cellar and warmly recommend them to readers." - William Kelley