2007 Foillard 3.14
- Thread starter Robert Dentice
- Start date
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Let me know when you get around of it, I highly suspect you will find it an elegant Beaujolais nowhere near Syrah. Btw, there is also the Côte du π, also a π, but not as interesting imo.
btw, still haven't opened a 2013 Laible Spätburgunder that you made me curious to try; should get around to it later in the year, especially if Mark E comes to visit.
Why not? The wines aren't good enough? I think most of us would agree that the best Beaujolais wines are undervalued relative to their quality and enjoyment. Should the winemakers be punished for having been born in a lower-prestige plot of land?
But of course I understand the personal budgeting issues. I too have mental barriers for what I want spend on different types of wines.
I have been reluctant to buy some of the luxury cuvees for that reason, but with Foillard CdP fast approaching $50, the barriers may need to shift.
I've been meaning to open a 2014 3.14 and should get to it soonish. I've had good experiences in the past that were deeper and richer than the other wines, but still not full-on Syrah. I guess it depends on vintage. But as noted above the 3.14 is now close to $100, so I don't see that being a regular purchase!
Perhaps years ago (like 15 or so), they might have been, but not anymore. Regular Lapierre's and others are now around $40...to me, that is not "undervalued" anymore.
I've had some of these higher cuvees and I wonder what the winemaker is thinking in creating them? Does Beaujolais really need thicker wines and higher extract? Just yesterday, I opened a Cuvee MMIX from 2009...14.5% alcohol, tried it and couldn't drink it. A Chateau St Anne Bandol bested it as being more delicate.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
I imagine he/she is thinking to some degree at least about revenue.
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
I find the regular morgon cdp quite good objectively speaking, but utterly boring, to a point of being formulaic. Wine does not have to be either spoofed or neutral in order to lack personality. With 3.14 you get more of everything, including more of no-personality.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
That must explain why I like it so much, since I prefer people with lots of qualities and unobtrusive personality.
Not sure I fully agree, but I can see that. Foillard started as my first favorite Beaujolais so it retains sentimental value. It doesn't thrill the way it used to, but not sure I've done the proper trials to determine whether that is the wine changing or me changing!
Was it always boring for you, or can you track the change over time? I don't have numbers, but my impression is that the fame increased dramatically in the 00s, and perhaps production levels/methods changed as part of that?
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
oh, you may be misreading this: there is plenty of sensationalism in the glass here, albeit still formulaic. And one must draw a distinction between an unobtrusive personality and no personality.
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
I started out with a few bottles of the 08. Loved the first 2-3, then became disappointed when fruit sweetness synonymous with secondary development overtook the wine at the expense of just about everything else I cared about. I was impressed with the 09 early on, but not since.
I didn't discover earlier vintages (07, 06, 05) until a few years later when - to your earlier point - something changed, most likely my having tried quite a few Beaujolais producers in a variety of styles. I drink post-2009 vintages of cdp every now and then, including the 2010 a month ago; perfectly fine, particularly in cooler years, but no signals that would compel me to age any of them, and they are best when the food is good enough to take center stage.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
My comrade and I are again of one thought.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
That doesn’t surprise me. You?
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Capice.
Thanks for that. Surprisingly, I started earlier than you, with the late 90s vintages drunk in the early 00s. I drank them regularly but then stopped around 08 09 and have been sporadic since then.
It's tough for me to say what has changed because I really liked 2012/13 (so fragrant) and enjoyed the ripe seduction of the 2015. But I could not get my mind around the vulgarity of how 2018 showed.
Of course it all depends what style you prefer. Maybe it was just the nature of vintages like 00, 01, 02 04 and 06 that there was going to be more freshness, but then again I don't think I tasted 2014, 16 or 17, there may have been more freshness there.
But, something in the mid-00s was also changing in the wine scene. That was when the natural wine movement was conquering Paris and suddenly Lapierre and Foillard (plus many others we know) were everywhere. A few years later Foillard and Lapierre became allocated cult names in the US. I haven't done any analysis and am not as clued into the scene as others, but I always wondered if that evolution affected the wines.