Jean Foillard Beaujolais-Villages 2023

Aromas of wild cherries, pomegranate and roses combine with a rustic, earthy, farm-forward funk and a lively character for an unforgettable wine. Blending grapes from high-elevation, granite-heavy terroirs barely outside the region’s crus, and with a patient élevage that’s very close to that of his world-class Morgons, this wine is silky and seductive, with notes of rose petals, red fruit, pomegranate, black tea and stones. Just the right amount of tannin and acidity, and lots of class.

100% Gamay grapes from vines 20 to 58 years old, farmed organically. Most of the vineyards are planted on the Côte du Py, the famed slope outside the town of Villié-Morgon and the pride of Morgon. These granite and schist soils sit on an alluvial fan at the highest point above the town and impart great complexity. Aged seven months in concrete tank.

While it’s impossible to trace the beginning of the natural wine movement to any one producer, there can be little debate that Jean Foillard, along with three of his friends and colleagues in Beaujolais, were absolutely pioneers and paragons of the movement. For nearly half a century, minimal intervention, old vines, a ban on pesticides and herbicides, stringent sorting and no filtration have been the only way to do things at Foillard.

In the early days, Jean made Beaujolais Nouveau that he would expedite to market each November to meet the deadline of the worldwide Nouveau celebration. That Nouveau was outstanding and he didn’t need to change anything, but he had an epiphany that only the most ambitious sort of grower has: the grapes he was using were of high enough quality to make a cuvée with more depth and complexity, so he proposed taking his time to produce a Beaujolais-Villages instead of a hurried Nouveau. The results have been cumulative, and are simply stunning even in his village level wines.

Jean Foillard’s Beaujolais-Villages is the kind of wine that makes you suspend reason for a moment and devote yourself to it, at least while the wine’s still in your glass. After all, Beaujolais-Villages has no business being this good, but Jean Foillard is an extraordinary vigneron.