Browse Tag

gamay

The rock

Lapierre 2007 Morgon (Beaujolais) – Pretty delicate for a Morgon, it’s sweet-natured smallberry fruit dusted with soil and slowly immersing itself in a creamy black trumpet mushroom texture. But the shoulders, bones, and muscles of Morgon are not here. As such, I’d drink this vintage sooner rather than later. (6/10)

Paul Simon came up with 50 more

JP Brun “FRV100” (Beaujolais) – “Aged” (by which, of course, I mean forgotten in the cellar) for about a year. My initial reaction is that the boisterous, bubbly fruit has faded a bit, but it’s marginal enough that I could easily be self-suggesting same. It’s still good. Good fun. (5/10)

Roche motel

Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2007 Touraine “Cuvée Gamay” (Loire) – Cedar shavings, grey earth, particulate iced pinkfruit, some deeper raspberry/cranberry tones, and needlepoint structure. A very precise wine. It may be showing a little bit of fray due to the closure. (7/10)

Barsotti voce

Edmunds St. John 2008 Gamay Noir Barsotti Ranch “Porphyry” (El Dorado) – A stark, bare rock face of minerality with some tart, rhubarb/raspberry-ish fruit. Ungenerous and light, but long. I’d like to see this one again after some time in the cellar; a little erosion would be welcome. (5/10)

A Witters tale

Edmunds St. John 2009 Gamay Noir Rosé “Bone-Jolly” Witters (El Dorado County) – Raspberry and something in the peach realm, deft and light and gripping the palate as loosely as possible. Deft but not dodgy, light but not ethereal; very present without being insistent. (5/10)

Descombes your hair

Descombes 2006 Brouilly (Beaujolais) – Fiercely acidic. Raspberry, cranberry, and underbrush…but this is like trying to drink from a spiked metal helmet. Liquefied iron arrives somewhere within the finish. A little brett, too? Impossible to ignore, screeches for food, and while I like it, I think it will need to be addressed as Mistress Descombes in the future. (3/10)

Justine énas

Granger 2002 Juliénas (Beaujolais) – Softening, for sure, and starting to cast glances in the direction of softer, smoother pinot noir as it attempts to leave its brighter, lighter gamayness behind. It’s still mostly what it was, however, showing brownish-grey earth and soft red berries, and its an open question whether or not it will achieve its pinot noirish destiny. I do think it would be somewhat improved by a little more of either its past or its future. (2/10)