All wines served blind.
2012 Evening Land Vineyards Gamay Noir Seven Springs Vineyard Eola - Amity Hills
My bottle. Light-med color and body. Pleasant but on the whole simple, with linear cherry notes and a touch of bay leaf, such that blind tasters guessed new world because it lacked the complexity of authentic Beaujolais. Leftovers showed better two days later so no hurry to drink up, but overall this has changed significantly to the downside since last bottle in 2015 so why wait.
2014 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Côte de Brouilly
Good mixed red berry fruit, but at the moment more about structure and texture than fruit. Very good.
2014 Domaine Jean-Michel Dupré Beaujolais-Villages Vignes de 1940
Light-med body with raspberry and thyme notes. An extremely pleasant Bojo for $13 shelf price.
2014 Domaine des Pothiers Côte Roannaise Numero Six Gamay Saint Romain
Bigger bodied with denser texture, tannins and spice than the Villages served immediately prior, but at approximately the same price retail. Impressive QPR.
2015 Leah Jorgensen Cellars Tour Rain Oregon Red Blend
Dusty with douglas fir green notes, yet the fruit's solidly sweet and ripe like a bowl of loganberries. More like cab franc than gamay--and no wonder, it's only 40% gamay and the rest is CF. An intriguing new world vin rouge. I liked this a lot.
2014 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches Gamay
Mild mint and violet nose on fleshy blueberry and pomegranate midpalate with a bit of vitamin B in the very mineral finish. More lush with deceptive structure--a classic '14. Excellent.
2014 Joseph Drouhin Morgon Hospices de Belleville Gamay
Floral nose with cherries, strawberries, and considerable earth on the palate. This was at a gamay tasting, and before it was unveiled we accused the owner of bringing a pinot noir ringer. Specifically, it reminded me a lot of the basic Drouhin from Oregon. So how interesting that it turned out to be gamay but from famed Burgundy producer Joseph Drouhin. Excellent.
2012 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée Corcelette Gamay
My bottle. Mildly cloudy appearance. Raspberry with a touch of guava and passion fruit, complex spice and acidity. Beautiful and should hold here, but I don't think it will improve. Two WOTN votes and 2nd place for anyone who spent their WOTN vote elsewhere.
2012 Guy Breton Morgon Vieilles Vignes Gamay
Blind tasted. Silky berry fruit with a distinct cinnamon note. Seemed similar to but younger and fresher than the wine served immediately before it, which was also a '12. Excellent.
2014 Domaine Laurent Gauthier Morgon Côte du Py Vieilles Vignes Gamay
Gorgeous dark ruby color. Excellent body with clean, bold fruit and assertive tannins. Based on vintage generalizations we mistook this for a '15. Excellent; will age beautifully.
2015 Brick House Gamay Noir Ribbon Ridge
Mildly cloudy. Simple flavor closer to tomato juice than berries with astringent acidity. No one liked it. Very disappointing as this is such a fine producer of pinot noir. That said, it's not unlike the '13 or '14 Bob and I had in Oregon last October. We were at a wine bar open to the street, and a parade was about to start so we decided to kick back and watch. I grabbed this off the shelf and had them open it for me. I had thought it was a pinot. OOPS.
2015 Seven Springs Estate Gamay Noir Eola - Amity Hills
What an ugly label--what were they thinking? The '12 I had that led off this tasting had an elegant round silver badge of a label. This had a large grass-green label with simple lettering, like a generic, store brand detergent. What's inside isn't much better: pale ruby, stark acidity, simple and awkward.
2010 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Griffe du Marquis Gamay
My bottle. Deep purple-garnet color--darkest of the 14 gamays we had and the most complex. Incredible nose of star anise and other spices with blueberry and sarsparilla on the palate. Lively acidity and sturdy tannins--many good years ahead. Outstanding; a real showstopper. Six WOTN votes.
2007 Louis Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Clos de Rochegrès Château des Jacques Gamay
Fairly mature. Notes of Asian plum sauce, soy, and earth with flecks of funk, white pepper and tar not unlike an old St. Joseph. Liked this a lot; interesting to know a gamay can go here
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