Loire Valley Wine Guide: Gamay
When it comes to the next red variety in the Loire Valley line-up after Cabernet Franc, I have to confess I was originally intending to turn to Pinot Noir. Although it is far from the most widely planted variety in the region, the high levels of quality achieved by some vignerons in Sancerre, and also in Cheverny and Menetou-Salon it has to be said, told me that Pinot Noir should be next.
This, sadly, has long been Gamay’s lot, an ugly duckling eternally passed over in favour of the prettier Pinot Noir. Looking for a moment to Burgundy, ever since Philippe de Bourgogne cast the variety into the wilderness with his scathing edict six centuries ago (more on this below) the variety has been at the very least overlooked, if not actively derided and despised. Vineyards across the Burgundy region were ripped up, and planting was banned; vignerons who stuck by it were, many would assume, more interested in quantity than quality. Outside the Côte d’Or, however, the variety established a foothold on the hillsides and slopes around the town of Beaujeu, the wines made here known to us all as Beaujolais. Having tasted some fairly ropey examples of Beaujolais Nouveau in my earlier drinking days, I saw little at that time to dissuade me that Philippe de Bourgogne’s edict had been anything other than correct.
When I first started investigating the wines of the Loire Valley, I carried this perception of Gamay with me. While I came with an open mind to the Cabernet Franc of Chinon and Bourgueil, when it came to the Gamay of Touraine my old prejudice reared its head. It was only with the discovery of wines from selected vignerons that I realised the wines could have genuine appeal. These discoveries included in Touraine several notable domaines most notably the sadly defunct Clos Roche Blanche, Domaine de la Charmoise (here featuring more than one ‘version’ of Gamay – more on this later also) and Domaine de la Garrelière, and in Anjou several famous domaines such as Château Pierre-Bise and Domaine de la Bergerie. In the case of the latter region, the variety tends to crop up as a component of rosé along with Grolleau and Cabernet Franc, although at the opposite end of the spectrum Claude Papin’s Anjou Gamay once enjoyed cult status in some quarters (although it is a few years now since I last tasted it), so the quality does exist.
Having said that, while I admired some of these efforts, they never touched my vinous soul in the way that Cabernet Franc from Chinon and Bourgueil did, nor indeed in the way in which Pinot Noir from Sancerre has also done in recent times. That is no longer true, however, as there are Loire Valley appellations producing vibrant, polished, tense and nervously exciting examples of Gamay that can wipe the floor with those coming out of Anjou and Touraine. These appellations – as yet unmentioned – are distant and little-known, under-appreciated and perhaps rather misunderstood, but I am delighted to have discovered them. Before I come to them, however, some more detail on Gamay, including its origins, legends – or rather, lack of them – characteristics and wines, and we start newly updated guide to all things Gamay with a little teinturier disambiguation.
