The Luminaries of Morgon
by Tom Wolf
Take 20% OFF wines in the Beaujolais Picnic Collection, now through the end of the month
Click to apply this promo code to your order
Click to apply: PICNIC20 Valid through Sunday, June 30thPromo code terms
Enter just about any thoughtful restaurant or wine bar around the world and the chances are you’ll find a bottle from one of the Morgon-based growers Kermit long ago dubbed the Gang of Four on the list. It doesn’t matter if the establishment is filled with white table cloths or mesh patio tables, if they serve inventive tasting menus or simple charcuterie and cheese boards. The reds from these four families, graced with timeless labels and possessing both complexity and exuberance, can be dressed up or down with more ease than just about any other wine. And even on the off chance you don’t spot a bottle bearing the name Lapierre, Foillard, Thévenet, or Breton, many of the names on the list will have undoubtedly been inspired by the “gang” and their trailblazing practices in the vines and cellar over the last four decades. Their wines are beloved for being at once remarkably fresh, convivial, classy, and profound. It’s not a stretch to say the Lapierres, Foillards, Thévenets, and Guy Breton have been the most influential group of growers in the world over the last thirty years.
And yet, when you spend time with the members of these families, you would never know it. They are an uncommonly laid-back bunch, who relish sitting around a table and sharing glass after glass of divine cru Beaujolais while passionately discussing their approaches to producing it. Thanks to differences of philosophy, technique, terroir, or vine age, the four domaines’ wines are in the same family, but akin to four siblings each with their own personality. Even though, for instance, the Thévenets’ and Guy Breton’s Morgons could both be called perfumed and silky, you wouldn’t mistake them for each other after tasting them side by side. Thévenet’s 2022 rendition is so graceful and refined while Breton’s is uncommonly fragrant and plush.
The same goes for Mathieu and Camille Lapierre’s “Le Beaujolais”—bright, vivid, and red-fruited—and Jean Foillard’s Beaujolais-Villages, which is a little earthier and spicier, with notes of blood orange, pomegranate, rhubarb, and black tea.
We almost never have the wines of all four domaines in stock at the same time, so take advantage of this brief window—and this month’s Beaujolais discount—to become acquainted, or reacquainted, with these true French icons.
The Luminaries of Morgon
by Tom Wolf
Lapierre, Breton, Thévenet
© Gail Skoff
Jean Foillard
© Joanie Bonfiglio
Guy Breton
© Gail Skoff
Charly Thévenet, Alex Foillard, Camille LaPierre
© Jimmy Hayes
Take 20% OFF wines in the Beaujolais Picnic Collection, now through the end of the month
Click to apply this promo code to your order
Click to apply: PICNIC20 Valid through Sunday, June 30thPromo code terms
Wines In The Collection
Jean-Paul et Charly Thévenet France | Beaujolais
Charly Thévenet and his father, Jean Paul, now bottle a range of five different wines in their cellars in Villié-Morgon
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
An opulent, mouth-filling expression of granitic terroir, this bottling has the delicate floral nuances and fine-grained tannin that differentiates Fleurie from the other crus.
Guy Breton France | Beaujolais
Leave it to Breton to take summer heat and turn it into a light summer breeze in a glass.
France | Beaujolais
Charly Thévenet and his father, Jean Paul, now bottle a range of five different wines in their cellars in Villié-Morgon
France | Beaujolais
An opulent, mouth-filling expression of granitic terroir, this bottling has the delicate floral nuances and fine-grained tannin that differentiates Fleurie from the other crus.
France | Beaujolais
Leave it to Breton to take summer heat and turn it into a light summer breeze in a glass.
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