Gamay (Beaujolais-Villages)
What is it?
The Gamay grape is most commonly grown in the Beaujolais region of France, which produces 75% of all Gamay wine in the world [2]. Beyond the standard Beaujolais designation, one will often see "villages" or "cru" on the label, which indicates the wine is of slightly higher quality. (Note that the Gamay wine we chose was a villages level wine.) Gamay is a light-tannin, light-bodied red wine, and most of its fruit flavors come from aroma as opposed to taste [2]. This grape is actually genetically a cousin of the Pinot Noir grape. The primary flavors of Gamay wine are pomegranate, blackberry bramble, violet, potting soil, and banana [1].
Some suggested pairings are sweet and sour salmon, beef stroganoff, and sesame tempeh. However, this wine is highlighted as a great wine for pairing extremely well with many different foods [2]. We had this wine with spaghetti and homemade vegetarian meat sauce.
Molly's Rating and Tasting Notes
6.4. On the nose, I get a lot of grape. There is some presence of raspberry on the tongue, and maybe some plum? The finish is very earthy and reminds me of wet soil to some extent. This is definitely not a "dry red", but I think this could be an adventure for those who like red wine and want to try something fun.
Ryan's Rating and Tasting Notes
6.6 On the nose I'm getting grape Jolly Rancher, fig, and molasses. Upon tasting, I get grape Jolly Rancher again, but this time with some spices in the background. In particular I'm getting cinnamon and possibly a little bit of anise? There are also hints of plum and unripened strawberry. On the backend there's a memory of banana mixed with potting soil, maybe someone was trying to grow a banana tree in my wine. Overall nothing special but it's an easy little sipper.
References
[1] Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack. Wine Folly: The Master Guide. Avery - A Penguin Imprint, New York, NY, 2018.
[2] "Taster's Guide to Gamay Wine." Wine Folly. https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/tasters-guide-to-gamay-wine/. Accessed: April 2023.