2016 Foillard Morgon Cotes de Py (and a quick Paris report)

[marcs]

On the list at a Parisian bistro (Chez Monsieur) at 48 Euro. Decent price, exactly the wine I would sell if I owned a bistro.

I've had some up and down experiences with Foillard but when they're on they're on and this was on. A bit of reductive spritz on the tongue (not a fan of that) but it gradually went away over 30 minutes. Fantastic nose from the jump, typical of Foillard. Sweet and tangy, reminiscent of cranberry sauce with cinnamon. Nose gradually got even richer as the wine opened up, but still kept a vegetal tang -- by an hour or so in it almost made me detect notes of ketchup due to the combination of tomato leaf and intense red fruit sweetness. The palate started narrow and acidic but then broadened out and relaxed. Sweet on the palate as well, but the strawberry/raspberry sweetness cut by a mineral edge and an acidic tang. Also some other favors like spices and tobacco. This is like a Beaujolais fruit bomb -- except it's not at all a fruit bomb because it's so Beaujolais, if you get my drift. A touch of tannin at the back of the palate -/ this will age a while.

Foillard lacks some finesse compared to Burgundy but gives you way more fruit intensity than a villages Burgundy, and a certain kind of overt complexity created by multiplicity of favors. If you are OK with that sort of raspberry/cherry bubble gum element characteristic of Beaujolais then it is a very good deal

[DavidG]

Enjoy Paris!

I can go for a hint of vegetal for complexity. But the combo of vegetal tang, tomato leaf suggestive of ketchup, and raspberry/cherry bubble gum sweetness doesn’t sound like my cup of Bojo...

I’m a fan of Jean Paul Brun (Terres Dorées) and Thevenet. Have you ever had those?

[jal]

Nice,
We were staying not far from Chez Monsieur in April and tried to go there but the restaurant was full that night, we ended having a mediocre dinner at Flotte.
I love Foillard, Asimov in the NYTimes has a piece this last week on Morgon, if you're interested. I have never noticed any big difference between Morgon, Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, and St Amour to be honest (I don't think I've ever had a Chiroubles), I usually go with the producers I like.
Enjoy your stay.

[AKR]

Interesting note. All Beaujolais tastes better in the city of lights.

I saw the Asimov article but didn't read it yet.

Picked up one of Foillard's 2016 villages wines.

Haven't tried the producer but seems well regarded.

I've been drinking a little bit more of the stuff since moving out here.

Its good in the summer time.

Not a wide selection on the local shelves, but Rimmerman has some ok picks, so I get the AOC from there mostly.

[stefan]

Every time we drink a Beaujolais Village from a good producer I say to Lucie, "gee, we should drink more Beaujolais". Then I buy more Bordeaux and Oregon PN.

[marcs]

Yes, I've had the Brun Terre Dores and liked it a lot. I think I had the 2014 and it was in crisper and less fruity/sappy than this. But it still had that bubblegum undertone I associate with Beaujolais and I think comes from carbonic maceration.

Cote de Py is a site known for greater fruit depth/intensity and I think Foillard must do a selection that accentuates that. 2016 was a reasonably warm year too. Other elements of the wine, besides what I mentioned, were that it was quite floral and had a kind of potpourri element to the nose.

I'm probably making it sound more over the top than it was, it was still very recognizably Beaujolais especially on the palate, but it had very deep and vivid fruit, especially on the nose. At times it felt almost like Southern Rhone Grenache, not in its flavors exactly but in how funky and expressive and trippy that grape can be in a warm year. People are always comparing top Beaujolais to a bargain Burgundy but Pinot is more straitlaced than this.

If you're into Beaujolais you should take a flyer on this wine, it's under $40 in the U.S. and Foillard really is a top producer.

[marcs]

Oh, and I had a very culinary trip to Paris. Hit four different bistro-type places over the weekend -- La Bourse et La Vie, Arnaud Nicolas, Les Bouqinistes, and Chez Monsieur. Les Bouqinistes had easily the best food. Incredible breaded lamb dish, some of the best lamb I've ever had. The others had good individual dishes (La Bourse et La Vie featured out-of-this-world french fries...there's a reason they call them French) but nothing that really hit it out of the park like that. Not coincidentally, Les Bouquinistes was the only one of those with a Michelin star, and was about the same price as the others -- good deal.

Wine lists were very bistro-y so I settled in to lighter wines. Besides the bottle of Foillard, had glasses of a very nice 2015 Anne Gros Bourgogne that helped me understand the appeal of basic Bourgogne, an obscure white wine from Gascony made with Gros Manseng that had a fun combination of some overt sweetness plus crisp refreshing acidity (2017 Chiroulet Fezas Cote D'Heux), some Corbieres, and of course some Sancerre, can't go to a bistro in the summer without that!

One lesson from checking out restaurant lists: the kind of wines we collect are rich people wines, they would be totally unaffordable at restaurant prices. Bordeaux I have no time for, like Reignac, was over 50 Euro on lists and run of the mill lower growths we routinely drink like Cantenac Brown or Sociando Mallet from good years were 200 Euros+. Need to learn to cook better to match up with the insane stuff we have in our cellars!

[jal]

Do you mean "Les Bouquinistes" ? The Guy Savoy restaurant on the left bank quai?

[marcs]

Do you mean "Les Bouquinistes" ? The Guy Savoy restaurant on the left bank quai?

exactly, Les Bouqinistes, the restaurant on the quai. Will change it.

[jal]

I like that one, so many names in Paris are similar, we had lunch at Les Botanistes in April and loved that. We also had dinner at La Bourse et La Vie and thought it was nice.
So many good places in that town.
You are absolutely right about wines in restaurants in Paris and in France in general. In restaurants, we stick with Village Bourgogne (had a delicious Pascal Marchand Bourgogne at Les Botanistes), and Beaujolais for reds, Macon, St Aubin, Sancerre or Muscadet for whites.
Only Bordeaux we had was a half bottle of 2010 Smith Haut Laffitte at Le Georges the place on the roof of the Pompidou Center and that was about 75 Euros (and probably an error).

[stefan]

Les Bouquinistes is very good. Lucie and I ate there and also at Guy Savoy's Atelier Maître Albert the last time we were in Paris. OTOH, we were a bit disappointed by Guy Savoy itself the last time we went. Everything was very good, but no dish made us feel that we had died and gone to heaven. Our guest, who had not previously been to a Guide Michelin 3 star, thought we were crazy.

As for wines: At one time you could find bargains among older wines on lists at the great Parisian restaurants. Those days are gone, but sometimes you find Burgundies at prices that around USA retail or even lower. Best to avoid Bordeaux unless you have income a la Johnny Depp.

[robertgoulet]

This was WOTN for me at a boys wine dinner with Orlando Bobby....least expensive wine in our line up '03 Haut Brion and 2001 Harlan being the most expensive....I believe it was the 2013 it was absolutely electric...flavors bursting that I could not even describe.

[DavidG]

Sounds like I need to give this a try.

[BordeauxNut]

This was WOTN for me at a boys wine dinner with Orlando Bobby....least expensive wine in our line up '03 Haut Brion and 2001 Harlan being the most expensive....I believe it was the 2013 it was absolutely electric...flavors bursting that I could not even describe.

You are the kind of rare group I'd love to join if you picked a 2013 Foillard as WOTN against HB and Harlan -- non-blind. Were you tasting blind? If yes, that's impressive. If you were tasting blind, it's a little surprising but not shocking...

Cheers.

[Blanquito]

I recently had my first real ah-ha moment with Beaujolais— the 2015 Thivin Brouilly was seriously good, though it took until day 2 to really unfurl. I think I liked the 15 of this wine, unlike the 12 and 13, because it had the requisite depth and fruit to get a cab-lover’s attention but it was still very bright and red and intense. I am definitely on the look out for more.

[Nicklasss]

Some favorites of mine: Thivin Côtes de Brouilly, Descombes Morgon and Pacalet Chiroubles.

Nic