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“Wonderful, life-affirming expressions of Beaujolais ... superb tension and energy.”
Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate on Foillard
Beaujolais icon Jean Foillard is among the most universally revered of France’s great vignerons. Both inside the wine trade and out, everyone who loves wine in France is fervent about Foillard’s timeless wines, especially his iconic Morgon Côte du Py.
But even the best connected of Foillard’s followers seldom encounter his greatest wine: the very special, and very rare, Morgon Cuvée 3.14.
The reason is simple: the famously egalitarian Foillard allocates only a few bottles to each account, regardless of their stature. You’d be hard pressed to find Cuvée 3.14 in a Paris cave, and if you did, you first might need to prove your worth by purchasing a case or two of Foillard’s other Morgons to secure even a single bottle of the 3.14.
And the fact that it is made—from a tiny plot of 100-year-old vines within Côte du Py—exclusively when Foillard feels it has “the right stuff” for a separate cuvée, only adds to its scarcity.
All of which makes this a very rare opportunity: two Cuvée 3.14 releases—2013 and 2014. Both vintages are great, yet each is unique, the 2013 made from tiny but highly concentrated grapes and the 2014 livelier and more mineral-driven. And each could be the finest wine of its respective vintage in Beaujolais.
Gamay Heights
In charge of his family’s domaine since 1980, Foillard is a follower of the teachings of the great Jules Chauvet, the father of France’s natural wine movement. He tends his ancient vines organically, makes and ages his wine traditionally and doesn’t chaptalize, filter or sulfur his wines.
His Morgon Côte du Py has long been revered as one of Beaujolais’ greatest wines. The 3.14 (the number for “Pi”) is greater still, the essence of the hallowed Côte du Py terroir, with an unending complexity that must be the source of the wine’s name, beyond the obvious wordplay.
This towering wine results from the region’s greatest producer pushing the envelope with his oldest Côte du Py vines, an extended 18-month élévage and a further 18 months in bottle before release.
The result is simply the ultimate in elegance, nuance and balance, thanks to the concentration bestowed by its century-old vines and Foillard’s adamantly hands-off approach.
Cuvée 3.14 is the ultimate cult Beaujolais, as it rarely even gets reviewed. When critics do find a bottle, they are effusive in their praise: the 2014 received 94 from Josh Raynolds while the 2013 was awarded 95 from James Suckling.
Speaking of rarity, the only other merchant in the world we can find selling either wines is asking $450 a bottle. At half that price for two bottles, you'll need to hurry...
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By clicking the retail or wholesale site button and/or using rarewineco.com you are choosing to accept our use of cookies to provide you the best possible web experience.