Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2020

The Côte du Py is the wine that made Jean Foillard's reputation — and forty years on, it remains the standard against which all serious Morgon is measured. The Côte du Py is a renowned slope of roches pourries — rotten rock of decomposed granite, schist and manganese — and through Foillard's great skill and instinct, this extraordinary site yields an exceptionally complete expression of Beaujolais. In its perfect balance of sheer deliciousness and serious, structured complexity, it is a model of grape variety matched to terroir. Few wines from anywhere combine these traits so effortlessly. The Gamay vines range from 10 to 90 years of age across 8.6 hectares, hand harvested and given a traditional whole-cluster fermentation of three to four weeks, then aged six to nine months in used oak barrels at least two years old — no added sulphur during vinification, unfiltered, bottled as purely as possible. 

The bouquet intoxicates with its elegance and openness — crushed small red fruits punctuated by floral notes and hints of sous-bois; the palate combining depth and purity, a caressing velvet and structuring tannins for a racey, complex finish that lingers on and on. Unwinds in the glass with notes of sweet berry fruit, peonies, loamy soil and sweet spices — medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with ultra-fine tannins and lively acids, sapid and mouthwatering.