Tasted in Le Clachet with Alex Foillard, 23 February 2021.
Domaine Jean Foillard
Le Clachet
69910 Villié-Morgon
Tel: +33 4 74 04 24 97
www.leclachet-foillard.com
More reports for Domaine Jean Foillard
Alex on 2020:
“Heterogenous – it really depended on the sector. We’re happy with the volume, some parcels had higher degrees, others were fresher from the perspective of alcohol. It was another hot vintage following-on from 2018 and 2019 but perhaps with a bit more freshness of acidity in 2020. We have slowly been harvesting a bit earlier – perhaps we could have gone earlier in 2018 for instance…”
Alex on 2019:
“We just started selling the 2019s in February. 2019 was quite a dry year a little frost in the bottom of the hills to start with, but it was light. Some rain in mid-August which helped as we had tiny and concentrated grapes – so that helped with the balance and of course, the volume. A bit more acid and balance versus 2018 but a bit less concentration, possibly.”
The wines…
Classic wines at this domaine – if you are a fan you will be very happy – I found them delicious!
A 2020 then two 2018s to start:
2020 Alex Foillard, Beaujolais Villages
Vines practically on the border of Morgon and Brouilly – for bottling towards the end of March, perhaps the early April…
Modest freshness of aroma- just a little compact but growing redder and redder fruited. Direct – lots of acidity but the intensity is never hard – that’s a fine energy – sweeping lines – long and quite a vibrant wine – super.
2018 Alex Foillard, Cote de Brouilly
More sand, less granite here – about 30 and 50-year-old vines.
A nose that’s round, deep and shows lots of complexity. Rounder shape, a vibration of energy here – nicely insistent. Juicy finishing. Long and tasty
2018 Alex Foillard, Brouilly
On a hill so more structured than his Côte de Brouilly. 2/3rds in-barrel elevage for this wine – the reverse of the last.
Lots of colour but transparent. A spiced width of aroma. Wider more structural and mouth-watering – you might guess them the other way round tasting blind. Plus floral finishing – that’s lovely there! Long too.
2019 Jean Foillard, Morgon Cuvée Corcelette
Granite here and very sandy – this brings the fruit and the flowers.
Plenty of colour for this wine. The nose the most open so far, more airy but with some further density in waiting below. Lovely fresh starting, rippling with energy, and an open and mouth-watering width with growing depth, layered – that’s a super wine – excellent starting, great finishing.
2019 Jean Foillard, Morgon Côte de Py
The nose here has a little vegetable stock and a certain peppery quality too. Extra sleek and fresh, starting direct but growing in width too – this has the classic flavour of this cuvée – complex, sweeping, faintly lactic – delicious – like the last opening out wider and wider in the finish – here more airy in style.
2019 Jean Foillard, Fleurie
3 ha in lieu-dit ‘Champagne’ plain-south facing. All these three bottled mid-August.
Fuller, similar in style to the Côte du Py – but fuller. Like the nose, there’s extra density of flavour here. A small saline grain to the complexity. Staring modest the finish grows wider and wider, rippling out from the core – that’s a lovely finish. Another simply excellent wine…
Jean Foillard, Elles, Nadine et Agnés
This is Morgon 2018, 8k bottles – a collector’s item, it’s not planned for other vintages.
Pale red colour. Not so wide but an airy style to this wine. Nice attack here followed by a growing rounder aspect to the flavour. Airy red fruit finish – not a wine of density – open and delicious, indeed detailed in the finishing flavours.