Gamay

Gamay a Rising Star in the Okanagan

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Looking back to the late 1900s, Beaujolais Nouveau turned an oversupply of cheap Beaujolais - traditionally shipped to the cafés and restaurants of Paris a few weeks after harvest - into an international marketing phenomenon.

But, in retrospect, shipping the ethereal, short-lived wine by the planeload straight from the fermentation vat to all corners of the globe has somewhat tarnished the image of Beaujolais as a producer of fine wine for sophisticated palates. Better to think of Nouveau or Primeur as a fun wine (sometimes referred to as “lollipop” wine) in which the grapes undergo whole bunch fermentation by carbonic semi-maceration. Everyone should try Beaujolais Nouveau or Gamay Nouveau at least once (it can be found at some BC liquor stores as well as Quails’ Gate in most years).

But it is important to remember that Beaujolais made by traditional methods from Gamay grapes grown in the northeastern corner of the region (mainly Villages and Crus) produce high quality, richly flavoured red wines. Such is the case in BC, particularly in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys.

At three to four per cent of plantings and tonnage of red grape varieties in BC, Gamay is not likely to catch up with the elites – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Franc, Pinot Noir and Syrah – any time soon. Neither is it all that easy to find on wine store shelves or restaurant wine lists. Don’t let that detail deter you. More wineries than ever – at least a dozen - are producing fine Gamay wines. If not the industry’s best kept secret, it is unquestionably one of the best secrets to uncover.

One of Gamay’s earliest proponents, Blue Mountain in Okanagan Falls, has been producing Gamay grown on the winery’s impeccable, south-facing, eighty-acre vineyard for almost 30 years. Ask winemaker Matt Mavety about cultivation. He will tell you that conditions are ideal but that it is more challenging to grow than his other red variety, Pinot noir.

“The establishment of Gamay vines is like any other variety,” he explains, “but there needs to be extra caution in relationship to the yields. Significant green harvest is required to bring the prolific variety into check.”

Mavety puts the emphasis on subtle expression of fruit and making wine that people enjoy with food. After sorting and destemming of the fruit into tanks, Mavety uses native yeasts to maximize the nuances of the variety.

“The extraction regime focuses on the use of pump overs to allow for gentle extraction,” he says. “Malo is delayed until the following spring with all aging in French oak barrels, new to sixth fill, to allow for gentle development without imparting an oak profile on the wine.”

Typical of an excellent Beaujolais-Villages, Blue Mountain 2017 Gamay packs poignant blackberry and juicy plum fruit with notes of black pepper spice, a silky texture and long finish.

Gamay is one of several varieties, including Pinot Noir, grown by Summerland’s innovative Okanagan Crush Pad Winery on the gently south-west-leaning, 38-acre Secrest Mountain Vineyard. At 487 metres, the high elevation site just south of McIntyre Bluff experiences a brisk, persistent, drying wind. “To take advantage of the location and the limestone-rich sandy loam to coarse gravel soil, the winery uses a two arm VSP Trellising System,” says Okanagan Crush Pad’s experienced assistant winemaker, Steve Latchford. “The objective of VSP is to train the shoots in a vertical fashion, creating a narrow zone to provide good exposure to sunlight and air flow to the fruiting zone of the canopy.”

The advantages of VSP are greatest in cool climate regions and with thin-skinned varieties like Gamay, as the increase in air flow helps reduce the risk of botrytis bunch rot and sour rot as well as problems associated with mold and fungus. Latchford likens Gamay to Pinot Noir, particularly in the vineyard. “They both ripen early,” he says. “Gamay likes to be cropped, but not too much, about three tons per acre in most years.”

Partially destemmed, 30-40 per cent whole cluster for carbonic complexity, the organically farmed grapes are placed in open vats with gentle punch-downs twice a day for extended skin contact of 10-12 days. Fermentation of the juice takes place in concrete fermenters before aging on the lees for eight months in large Nico Velo concrete tanks. The combination of mouth-watering, red berry, Secrest grown fruit with a round mouthfeel and purity of flavour derived from fermenting and aging in concrete, results in wine that is vibrant and complex with more weight and tension.

A member of the Okanagan Crush Pad family, Haywire’s portfolio focuses on natural wines made exclusively from organically grown grapes and reflecting the Okanagan Valley’s cool climate terroir. Haywire’s restrained 2017 Secrest Mountain Vineyard Gamay reveals a complex taste profile with juicy, lively cherry and raspberry fruit, nuances of violet, mineral, smoke and black pepper, and the capacity to improve in the bottle for 3-5 years.

Gamay is also the signature wine at Robin Ridge, a small, fully-certified organic, family-run winery on Middle Bench Road in the breathtaking Similkameen Valley. As production increased, owners Tim and Caroline Cottrill purchased a 10-acre property in 2012 near the winery off Highway 3 to augment output of the original eight-acre home vineyard.

Plantings in the new vineyard included two acres of Gamay adding to the one acre already in production. “The well-drained soil structure features a foot of coarse sandy loam over gravel and a lot of rocks,” says Tim Cottrill. A unique feature at Robin Ridge is use of the Geneva Double Curtain, or GDC, trellis system. This allows for a larger, more dense canopy by dividing it into two and allowing more sunlight to reach the fruit renewal zone, and a greater yield.

“At five tons per acre, its productivity exceeds Pinot noir, offsetting the additional work required in training the vines,” adds Cottrill. “With fermentation on the skins in open vats for up to two weeks, 40 per cent of which are whole berry, punch downs three times a day, and barrel aging, winemaking for both Pinot noir and Gamay are similar,” he says. ”This results in deeper colour, more flavour extraction and more full-bodied Gamay that benefits from aging in the bottle. “Because of Gamay’s lively acidity, it makes great pairing with fattier meats like duck and lamb.”

Robin Ridge 2016 Similkameen Valley Gamay is elegant and richly structured with vibrant acidity and a velvety mouthfeel. Flavours suggest dried violet, crushed berry, supple blackcurrant and raspberry fruit with nuances of mixed spice and milk chocolate. For comparison, Robin Ridge 2014 Gamay delivers succulent, concentrated, juicy crushed berry, blackcurrant and plum fruit with notes of spice and violets, good acidity and balance, ripe tannins and a long finish. These wines take Gamay to the next level.

Also tasted: Robin Ridge 2017 Similkameen Valley PnG, a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, along the lines of a Bourgogne Passe-Tout-Grain. The Bourgogne version requires that Pinot Noir comprise at least one third of the blend. Pale ruby in colour, Robin Ridge PnG features strawberry and cherry fruit with notes of pepper, leather and black licorice, mouth-watering acidity and a silky texture.

There are more Gamay wines in the works at Robin Ridge, according to Cottrill. ”A nouveau style is becoming more popular and provides a snapshot of the vintage," he says. He is experimenting with late harvest Gamay: ”Under the right conditions, ripe fruit from young plants with RS (residual sugar) up to 40 grams per litre. As well, I’d like to do a sparkling Gamay.”