Wine Focus November 2022: Zinfandel & Gamay

One Zin for the price of two...

We had sort of cassoulet (chicken breast strips with beans, onions, tomatoes & etc) and I thought a California blend of Zinfandel, Petite Verdot, Ruby Cabernet "with a splash of Syrah" would be a good match. I'd bought it because of an enthusiastic label in the shop "This is fabulous blend..."

2019 Giant Old Vine Red (USA, California)

Mrs M had a mouthful, grimaced and refused to drink any more.
I'd missed* three vital words at the end of the blurb on the back label "sweet red wine".
Urghh - it was as if there were a couple of spoonfulls of sugar added to the wine glass. Awful. Unbalanced, just ughhhhhh

She asked if we could have a ‘decent’ Zinfandel, so I rushed to the garage and dug out
2018 Once & Future Wine Zinfandel Old Hill Ranch (California, Sonoma County)
Now, the dinner was on the table getting cooler by the minute and this wine should have been opened and decanted before. (but I would have chosen a cheaper Zin if I'd had the time to check CT, because I'd liked to have given this more aging.

Too young and unaired but this was sublime, really classy.

*I'd missed something else, it was bottled in the UK for a shipper (so bulk shipped) and there was no makers identification. So I don't expect you'll see the label in the USA, but if you do - avoid.

[Jenise]

I don't think they'd dare let something like that Giant Old Vine Red run loose over here. Not that everyone has great taste, but there's zero market for a deliberately sweet red wine like that.

The Once & Future was a much better bet. Good wines, not surprised to see you say "classy".

but there's zero market for a deliberately sweet red wine like that.

Really? What about Apothic?

[Jenise]

Okay, that wine's a sweet/gobby/fruit bomb compared to the wines most of us drink, but categorically it's marketed as a dry wine and doesn't self-describe as sweet, no matter what us snobs think.


In the meantime, last night Bob and I opened another Gamay.

2016 Domaine Blain Soeur et Frére Côte de Brouilly Les Jumeaux Gamay
Taupe-y red, pleasing aromas of red fruit, fading geraniums and something on the earthy side--say coffee grounds--in the background. Not quite like any Beaujolais I've had before but I like it.

It doesn't take long to find US wines labelled as Sweet Red, for instance

cardinale-1636404107839[1].png

[Jenise]

Actually, you could have searched all day and not found that one, Peter. It's a small winery in Los Angeles that used to sell jug wines from outposts in suburbia (went to one once with my friend and her father, a doctor, when we accompanied him making house calls). Not fine wine, just wine for people who think good wine tastes like soda pop (or alcoholic doctors who paid their children and friends $5 ea not to tell our mothers what he filled the trunk of his Oldsmobile with).

And that's pretty close to zero market, Peter, when it comes to retail. One exception does not prove the rule.

I love Beaujolais. Two recent ones.

2021 Lapalu Brouilly VV
Cool crisp and silky with fresh dark fruits. Very appealing and I like the profile a lot. Although just a touch of brett/reduction that funkifies things suboptimally, and would be nicer with a touch more clarity. At least this bottle.

2019 G Descombes Morgon VV
Delicious. Dark stony Morgon berries with the Descombes crushed rock crunch that makes things so ethereal in the mouth, but is then offset by the gorgeous elegant silky texture. It has a few different faces - all of them fun - and with air gets even plusher (and a touch young grapey). So no doubt this will evolve. I love Descombes.

Wow, some great notes as we finish up the month here. Here is a gamay from Niagara, an area I am very keen on.
2020 Cave Spring Gamay Estate Beamsville Bench Niagara.


Not produced every year. 13.5% alc, $26 Cda, SC, serve slightly chilled.
Raspberry, cherry fruit on the nose. Some pepper and earthy on day 2. Dusty tannins, nice grip here and held up over 3 days (some health issues). Some sweetness and pepper, good acidity..plum cherry from across the table. Will be looking out for more.
Did you all see my sparkling gamay note?


13th Street Winery 2019 Gamay Blanc de Noir, Niagara Ont.

Thought this is my lucky day! Think it is around $40 Cda on the shelf if one can find it. Fine bubbles, raspberry, cherry, almonds on the nose. Very attractive. Mouse is fresh persistent, berries and doughy.
Noted some minerality with crisp acidity. Very good length, thought cherry dominates. Some may think a tad pricey but I enjoyed it. Now to look for the regular Gamay.

[Jenise]

I love sparkling gamay, Bob. Once, while in Fleurie, I scored a magnum of sparkling gamay rose made by Brun. Utterly fantastic.

Some very good wine is made from Gamay in the Loire valley from the Coteaux d’Ancenis near the estuary, through Anjou and Touraine right upstream to the Côte Roannaise near the source, where Domaine Pothiers has an excellent range.

In Touraine close to the Sologne forest, Henry Marionnet and his son make an interesting range of wines, mainly from Gamay, but also from Côt (AKA Malbec), SB and Romorantin, with some cuvées from ungrafted vines.

Première Vendange is above his entry level, also good, and has been available in the past few vintages during les Foires aux Vins at <€10 which is substantially below the price at the estate. I always stretch for it but this 2021 is the first disappointment.


2021 Domaine de la Charmoise Touraine Première Vendange - France, Loire Valley, Touraine (29/11/2022)
This is a slight disappointment compared with recent previous vintages, leaner and more simplistic. There is still abundant lively fresh fruit and some minerals but the usual youthful complexity and charm is absent. Perhaps the pairing, veal with mushrooms in a creamy sauce, called for a more sophisticated wine type and my second bottle may delight me more? Only quite good like this.


This is how Première Vendange has been performing in previous vintages -

2018 Domaine de la Charmoise Touraine Première Vendange - France, Loire Valley, Touraine (22/11/2019)
Like the 2016 (I seem to have missed the 2017), this wine is absolutely delightful at about 12 months old. It is bright, fruity (red berry mostly), mineral with touches of meat and spice, caressing texture, juicy moreish acidity and enough grip on the finish. I thought that the 2016 had lost lustre about 6 months further on and hope that this one will delight for a bit longer. However, I am unlikely to leave the bottles alone long enough to find out! Very good.
Posted from CellarTracker