Today I decided to be totally hedonistic and open a nice bottle of wine to have with lunch. This is before going to a dinner with fellow wine nerds where we will be drinking many truly great wines (at least by reputation). I wasn't planning on writing about this wine, but I'll tell you up front that I like it so much that this seemed like a perfect opportunity to write about the beauty of a good Cru Beaujolais. For those who don't know, many people unfairly think of Beaujolais only in terms of the juicy tasting Beaujolais Nouveau which, delicious as it is, is not the highest quality wine. This generalization is grossly unfair and untrue. There are 10 individual villages within Beaujolais that are known as the crus. "Cru" literally translates to "growth" but is often used by the French to designate a specific vineyard area or site. Within these crus there are some growers and producers making wines of far greater quality (and usually price) than the more basic categories of Beaujolais, Beaujolais Nouveau, basic Beaujolais, and Beaujolais Villages (theoretically, and usually literally, a step up in quality from the regularly labeled Beaujolais bottlings). One major difference between the higher quality wines and the juicy stuff is that the former are usually made with traditional vinification methods rather than what is known as carbonic maceration. Without getting too technical here, and as not to bore readers who already know all of this, carbonic maceration is a type of fermentation that produces aromas and flavors of artificially flavored fruit candy, bubblegum, and banana. Producers not using this method, but rather vinifying the wines similarly to other high quality red wines, are usually using fruit from one of these individual crus rather than bottling under the general appellation of Beaujolais. There are exceptions. I have even heard of a Beaujolais Nouveau produced without carbonic maceration. Edit: I also recently found out that there is some semicarbonic maceration, meaning some carbonic maceration and some regular, yeast vinification, used in this wine. I am humbly reminded that I should not generalize and there are, of course some high quality wines made with this method. So, again, I am humbled and will leave in all of my original text for the sake of honesty and as a lesson to myself to do my homework before writing about a wine. Getting back to my original text: in general, the highest quality wines will not say "Beaujolais" on the label, but will instead be labeled under one of these appellations: Régnié, Fleurie, Julienas, Chenas, Morgon, Moulin a Vent, Brouilly (the largest and most common of the crus), Cote de Brouilly, Chiroubles, and Saint-Amour. There are some accents of some of those that I didn't include, but I'm not too computer savvy and cutting and pasting kept on giving me italics. A cru Beaujolais might still be made with some carbonic maceration, (as this one is) but many are not. Another huge difference (maybe more important now that I know more?) is that the quality minded producers will use native yeast instead of specific lab cultured varieties, the latter of which also can contribute to the "tutti-fruity" banana type flavors. Morgon and Moulin a Vent are known as the most ageworthy crus (yes, many of these wines can age for ten or more years and develop beautifully), and Morgon is known for producing the most powerful wines. Within the appellation of Morgon there is a specific hillside known as the Cote du Py. This is supposed to be the finest site within Morgon. For those who haven't become too bored to continue reading, I'll now get into the wine.
Jean Foillard 2005 Morgon "Cote du Py" This wine is imported by Kermit Lynch, a wonderful importer of French and Italian wines. I am more familiar with his French portfolio than his Italian wines, but I can tell you that I find the quality and consistency to be quite high within the French offerings. His wines feature this image on the back labels:
This importer is represented in Maine by National and Wicked, but I'm not sure if this specific bottling is available. The current vintage is probably 2007 or 2008. I got this wine at a New Hampshire state store for $33. It is showing an array of red and dark berry fruits, including red and black cherry as well as red and black raspberry. The red fruits stand out more than the darker ones. It also has some spice components, both sweet and savory, and a gorgeous floral character, which is typical for these wines. It is medium bodied with medium minus aromatic and flavor intensity. There is complexity here to which my words are not doing justice. Beyond the surface flavors I have mentioned, there are other layers that are so harmonious that it's tough for me to find specific descriptors. What it comes down to for me is that this wine is delicious and so pretty. It seems delicate but strong, if that makes any sense. What I mean is that it's not a big wine but I'm sure it has quite a few years to go and will improve over that time. There's nothing here that I think will fade. The finish is fairly long (medium plus) and doesn't lose elements or thin out as so many finishes do. It hangs on nicely being beautiful and delicious. This wine is drinking wonderfully now, but I wish I had more so I could check in on it over the next five to ten years. It is one of the pricier Cru Beaujolais you're likely to encounter, but in the grand scheme of things I think it is undervalued at $33. I had a red Burgundy last night with a suggested retail of $40 and this wine puts that one to shame. The comparison is fair as this wine does remind me a bit of red Burgundy with brighter, California Pinot Noir style fruit, and these wines have a reputation for becoming more and more like their Pinot Noir siblings from the north as they age. This wine is outstanding and easily deserving of 91 points. (I gave the $40 Burgundy 82 points) Please, if you're not already familiar with this category, go out and try some Cru Beaujolais soon. They're great warm weather wines and they're very food friendly. I would even suggest serving them to those "I don't drink Beaujolais" snobs and not telling them until later that the wine is from Beaujolais.
