VARITEAL - GAMAY
My go-to wine around the holidays is always Gamay. It is an extremely food friendly wine and it has an effortless, young and fun personality that reminds me of a lot of the magic that we experience this time of year!
The wine is from the region of Beaujolais and the village of Chiroubles. Chiroubles is one of the ten "Cru" villages, which are highlighted for producing the best wines due to their high elevation and steep granite hills. (Chiroubles and Moulin-à-Vent being notable for their highest elevation and panoramic views.)
Wine is not sold in stores - only available to repurchase for members
PRODUCER - La Grosse Pierre
Wine Maker - Pauline Passot
Region - Chiroubles, Beaujolais
Smell - Black cherry, raspberry, violet
Taste - Fresh red fruit, a little spice
Body - Light
Tannin - Low
Acidity - High
FOOD PAIRING
Gamay is normally a crowd pleaser for its drinkability and how food-friendly it is. You can pair it with anything from sweet-and-sour chicken to beef stroganoff.
TAYLOR'S FAVORITE PAIRING:
Charcuterie, roasted veggies, & burgers!
Pair it with Crispy Prosciutto Baked Brie Bites with Honey Pears & Walnuts from Half Baked Harvest & you won't be disappointed!
"WOMAN MADE" : 2019 is Pauline Passot's third vintage - her wines are very Burgundian in style - yet feminine with beauty, tension & power.
VERSATILE : Pairs with almost any type of food & easy to enjoy on its own.
RACY RED FRUIT : Gamay is naturally low in tannin & is beautiful on the nose.
ORGANIC : Made from whole clusters & semi-carbonic maceration. There is no added yeast or sulfur-dioxide and gentle extraction.
JUICY: Flavors explode of cherry & blackberry.
HAND-HARVESTED : During harvest her team hand chose each whole cluster that makes it to fermentation.
TRADITION : Pauline comes from a winemaking lineage, the Domaine was founded by her grandfather in 1960.
90-YEAR OLD VINES : Using old vine Cru vineyards for her wines.
SMALL PRODUCTION : The wines are extremely representative of the Cru's from which they derive, only using the old Cru vineyards.
GAMAY TIP
Gamay has been called the only white wine that happens to be red because of its freshness, expressiveness, & drinkability. Place the wine in the fridge for 15 minutes and taste its flavors explode! Beaujolais is often overlooked because of its northern neighbor Burgundy, but it is the only French region where you can buy amazing wines for a fraction of the price.
NERDY NOTE:
Chiroubles is one of the 10 Crus of Beaujolais; grapes from here come from some vineyards with the highest altitudes in Beaujolais. Cru does not indicate a vineyard as it does in other French regions, but instead refers to 10 distinguished villages - all of which are located on steep granite hills (about 1,000 feet in elevation). The northern part of Beaujolais (where Chiroubles is located) wines are denser, richer, and more expensive.
Young winemaker, Pauline Passot comes from a winemaking lineage. The Passot family have been growers in Chiroubles for decades and the Domaine was founded in the 1960's by her grandfather. She makes very expressive small batch wines from old vine Cru vineyards, using traditional whole-cluster open carbonic fermentation, no filtering, and little or no sulfites at bottling. Her first mission in taking over the family business has been to convert to organic farming, something she takes very seriously. This wine is very Burgundian yet classic and feminine in style - you will not be able to find her wines at this price in the future.
