Jean Foillard’s Signature Style
by Jane Augustine
Jean Foillard’s Signature Style
by Jane Augustine
Kermit once lamented in Adventures that over the course of the 20th century the “hard-earned knowledge of the ancients [had] been discarded, almost overnight, in the name of progress.” The cost to the wine world was that so much vitality—in both the vineyard and what we poured in our glasses—was being extinguished. Meanwhile, in the Beaujolais, years before meeting Kermit, Jean Foillard and his group of friends were similarly stricken by the same sense of loss. Craving something more real, more lively and honest to drink, they abandoned the “progressive” status quo.
A French journalist recently asked Jean if, early in his career, he was aware that his gang’s alternative approach to winemaking was the origin of something big. “No,” he said, “we didn’t know where we were going. When we changed our vineyard practices, and our ways of vinifying, it was out of defiance, to do things differently than others. We wanted to free ourselves from modern enology and make good, clean, and pure wines.” This liberation led them to embrace methods more akin to those of the “ancients,” as Kermit had put it. Fortuitously, the importer found the vigneron—and it has been to the great benefit of anyone who has had the pleasure of drinking Foillard’s wines stateside over the last 35 years.
In the hands of Jean Foillard, Fleurie, Morgon, and Beaujolais-Villages are anything but common. He is among the remarkable vignerons whose wines are so distinctly perfumed that time and again, no matter the vintage, the cuvée, or the place, you’ll always recognize the artist’s stroke. You might even start to feel like you know the guy. The wines feel personal, intimate even, and inspire connection; that’s the beauty in Jean’s signature style.
Wines In The Collection
France | Beaujolais
Light and living, charged with herbs, cranberry, and strawberry.
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