Every Sunday, with an educational edge, I explore specific appellations or sub-regions, taking you along for the ride. If it’s old news, then brush up on some fading facts; if it’s uncharted territory, why not learn something new? If you know something I haven’t mentioned, then feel free to comment and share your experiences. Check out past Sunday posts here.
This week’s Sunday School will be an abridged version, as I’ve been busy but still wanted to mention a cool wine I tried this week. The best expression of Gamay I’ve tasted from outside France must be the Evening Land Vineyards ‘08 Celebration from the Seven Springs Vineyard in Eola-Amity Hills, a sub-AVA of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Eola-Amity Hills AVA is about a 45 minute drive south of Portland, set in the center of the Willamette Valley. The boundaries cover nearly 40,000 hilly acres with roughly 1500 acres planted with vines, and are home to 25 commercial wineries. You’ll find mostly Oregon’s flagship grapes of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc, but also plantings of Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Gewürtztraminer, Sauvignon blanc, and Gamay. A distinguishing climatic influence in EAH are the Van Duzer breezes, cooling afternoon air off the Pacific Ocean.
Evening Land Vineyards’ wine is made with fruit from three vineyards: Seven Springs Vineyard in Eola-Amity Hills, Occidental Vineyards in the Sonoma Coast (formally sourced by Kistler), and the Odyssey Vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara. It’s no coincidence that these are three of the best sites to grow Pinot Noir in the US, as Evening Land’s focus is on the Burgundian grapes. They also have Burgundian wine legend Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon in Meursault on board as consulting winemaker for all the Oregon wines.
Evening Land Vineyards ‘08 Celebration Gamay
The nose has the prettiness of good Gamay - spiced red fruit with a touch of earthiness. The palate flirts with plushness, but finishes dry and chalky with structure - medium tannins and generous Gamay acidity. Great stewed strawberry character with impressive minerality. Very good, especially considering that release price was less that $20.
The wines from Evening Land appear to make it to Canada, as a wine shop in Calgary, MetroVino, carries a few labels, but I can’t find anything else about importers or other provinces.
The Evening Land ‘08 Gamay makes the San Francisco Chronicle’s top 100 wines of 2009.
Jancis Robinson on the Evening Land Vineyards Celebration Gamay.
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3 Responses:
February 14th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I’m not trying to start any Ontario vs West Coast arguments here BUT … I think the Malvoire Gamay is fanastic - fantastic enough to compete for best Gamay in North America.
http://www.malivoire.com/index.php?page=wine-detail&productID=42
At the very least the winery deserves our attention because of the way they make wines - but this Gamay is great.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Cool, thanks for the suggestion Travis. I’ll have to give it a shot. I wonder if any of it makes it out west.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I don’t know if it does - it’s all part of the neohippie / carbon footprint / hemp wearing / locavore / organic movement. They might insist that it be carted by somebody walking on foot! Seriously great wine and great producer.