2010 Gamay Noir

TASTING NOTES

Deep ruby red color with undertones of purple. The 2010 WillaKenzie Estate Gamay has a sweet nose of blueberries, violets, and dried plums along with floral and spice notes finishing with a touch of white pepper. This is a luscious Gamay Noir with a round soft mouth-feel, enlivened by juicy fresh acidity, and tense, structured tannins. The notes of spice from the nose carry over to the palate  complementing cranberry and earth flavors. The finish is at once warm and inviting with fruit tones. Very approachable now, this delicious Gamay will hold on for another 5 years if you choose.

We recommend pairing the WillaKenzie Gamay with Spanish pork meatballs, a Thanksgiving turkey, smoked meat brisket, or meaty mushroom risotto.

 

VINTAGE

The 2010 vintage caused much anxiety in Oregon although it featured a relatively warm winter, especially February. Spring, however, was cold and wet, with May and June temperatures 8-10 degrees below average on most days. Budbreak occurred in the third week of April, but very little growth took place in the following weeks. Veraison was one of the latest on record, beginning at the end of August and completing in mid-September. The vintage was saved by a sunny and fairly dry October, contributing to good phenolic maturity, albeit at a lower than usual Brix level. Harvest started on October 19 with Terres Basses and finished on November 1 just before the rainy season. These wines are balanced with a lower level of alcohol, typically around 13.8, and they exhibit an excellent fruit profile.

 

VINEYARDS

Four acres of Gamay Noir were planted in 1993 at WillaKenzie Estate. The Gamay vines are spaced at 1200 plants per acre, running north to south, allowing for maximum sun exposure. All the Gamay Noir vineyards are planted on Willakenzie soil, a soil type known for its excellent drainage. The clones used are true Gamay Noir clones from the Beaujolais region of France. The Gamay plants are
grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock 5C and trained into an upright, double guyot trellising system. The Gamay Noir grapes were picked by hand on the morning of November 10, 2010.

2010 Gamay Noir Technical Details at Harvest:
Yield: 2.9 tons/acre — Brix: 22.8º —  pH: 3.4 —  TA: 7.5

WINEMAKING

The same nurturing techniques that we use to create our Pinot Noir, i.e., minimal intervention, nurturing, and gentle handling of the wine at every stage of its development, are employed to produce the Gamay Noir. A cool maceration preceded the open-top, Burgundian style fermentation for a total of 20 days of Gamay skin contact and daily punchdowns by ‘Bigfoot’, our mechanical punchdown device, thus adding to the brilliant color of the wine. The Gamay was then gravity fed to barrels where it underwent 100% Malolactic fermentation over the next 7 months. The Gamay Noir wine spent a total of 10 months maturing in a variety of French oak barrels, 20% of which were new.

2010 Gamay Noir Technical Details at Release:
Alcohol: 13.5% —  pH: 3.5 — TA: 6.0

 

 

 

To see tasting notes from previous vintages of WillaKenzie Gamay Noir please visit our Trade Toolkit