WTF is Gamay? (aka Beaujolais, chilling red wine, crunchy red fruit)

Transcript and Show Notes

Episode 26: WTF is Gamay? (Or is that Beaujolais?!?)  00:00

Hello! And welcome to the Wine Pair podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier for reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and wine-pairing partner in crime - Carmela. And we are the Wine Pair.

Ok, this week, Carmela, we are back to our WTF series, also known as What the Fuck is - and then we add the name of some wine - and this is where we learn about and taste wines that you may have heard of but are not exactly sure what they are, or maybe you’ve never heard of them, but we think you should know about them because maybe you’ll like them. Whatever. Whatever is fine.

This week, we are going to talk about the wine Gamay, which is better known as Beaujolais when found in a certain area of France, but I digress, and we’ll get to that later in this episode. I think this is a wine many of you have likely seen and some of you may be curious about and others may have tasted but never really appreciated. You can see pictures of these wines on our Instagram - thewinepairpodcast which you should really follow - and I am pretty sure when you see them, you will know what we are talking about. 

The purpose of this series, in addition to being an attempt to get Carmela to swear based on the title - which by the way she won’t do because she never ever swears, but the real purpose is to have some fun, and to get you maybe a little more comfortable with wines that are not Cabernet, or Merlot, or Chardonnay. And I have been, I guess, a little vocal - maybe opinionated - about the fact that I don’t generally love those wines and I think they are overrated, but I think it is more than that.

As former educators - some of you may know this - we are both former teachers - we just think that it is important and fun to learn and try new things. I think a lot of times people choose a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot or a Chardonnay because they don’t really know any better, and because the wine industry has sort of inundated us with those wines and made those wines so available that most people just don’t really look for anything else. Go to the wine section of any store and you will see big sections reserved for Cabernet and Chardonnay - and for me it is hard to tell if that is because people really want them, or because that is what the big wine producers in the US want us to drink. I mean, California grows a ton of Cabernet and Chardonnay, and they have to sell it, so I sometimes wonder if it is a big conspiracy. Dun dun dun.

So, part of what we are trying to do in this podcast is to justify the fact that we both have Masters Degrees in teaching that we really don’t use anymore - to help you learn about new and different wines which means sometimes we are learning about these wines, too. Like this week. I am not a Beaujolais drinker by nature, and I just recently learned that Gamay and Beaujolais are the same thing - but more about that in a minute. 

First, we have to do our shameless plug, ok?!? Each week on our podcast we mostly taste and review three reasonably priced wines - that means under $20 - that should be easy for you to find. I say mostly because sometimes we do something different just to keep things interesting - like interview people in the wine biz, and other stuff like that. We try to release a new episode every week on Sundays, just in time for you to download it for your weekly commute to work or jog at the gym or walk with the dog. And, if you wouldn’t mind, we would love it if you would give us a review and a 5-star rating because you are actually required to give us five stars. We asked Apple Podcasts and that’s what they said so I guess it’s real. And we hope you will subscribe and tell your kid’s teachers about the podcast so they will listen, too. Because we know that your kids teachers drink wine, especially after a hard day teaching your children.

Topic: How to chill red wine, and what red wines should be chilled  07:06

But, as we always do in each episode, we are going to take our customary left turn  to talk about something that is sort of related to the topic, and this week it is really related to the topic, because this week we are going to talk about chilling RED wine. What the what? Chilling red wine?!? Carmela, I thought chilling red wine was a no-no?!?

What do you think?

There are some red wines, like Gamay, that are actually meant to be served a little chilled, which I think is a surprise to people. In fact, there are probably more reasons to serve certain red wines chilled than you think.

Reading up this on the interwebs, there are a few types of red wines that should be chilled. They tend to be lighter bodied reds, reds that are not heavily oaked, and reds that are meant to be drunk relatively young - young meaning within the first several years of bottling. Can you guess some red wines that should be chilled, Carmela?

Here are some wines that may fit that bill:

• Gamay aka Beaujolais
• Valpolicella which is an Italian wine from the Lake Garda region near Verona - which is a fantastic place that we visited several years ago
• Lighter styles of Pinot Noir
• Cabernet Franc
• Frappato which is a very flowery wine from Sicily. I have had it before I didn’t really love it, but maybe I needed to chill it a bit. 
• Dolcetto which is from the Piedmont area of Italy, which is of course where the Nebbiolo grape is from and makes the famous wines of Barolo and Barbaresco
• Sometimes other reds that are made to be drunk young, like a lot of non-vintage, lower cost reds like cheap Cabernets from California can do ok when they are chilled. 

So how do you chill a red wine? Were you thinking that to yourself, Carmela?

So, I am going to ask you, but I am going to put some parameters on the chilling. You are a cook, a baker, so you probably know how to chill things. When you bake, what do you chill, and why?

The right temperature for a chilled red, and we are not talking about red sparkling wines like a red Lambrusco, is about 50-60 degrees fahrenheit. So, a bit warmer than you might serve a white wine or a sparkling wine, which generally do really well when they are pretty cold.

If a wine is oaked, like even an oaked Chardonnay, then it really should not be chilled too much because it only makes the taste of the oak or the tannin stronger. Which is maybe one reason that I tend not to like Chardonnay because it is often served super cold, and the oak becomes overpowering. It is also why a lot of red wines just don’t taste awesome when they are cold.

If you want to properly chill a red wine to 50-60 degrees, here are a couple of tips.

• If it is at room temperature, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Not too much longer because you don’t really want it ice cold
• You can also put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes
• In either case, I would turn the bottle over about halfway through so that the warmer and cooler areas of the wine mix together.
• If you have had your red wine in the fridge for a while, I would take it out of the fridge about 45 minutes or so before you are going to serve it, unless it is a really hot day. If it’s a hot day, you can wait
• You can also chill in an ice bucket for about 10-15 minutes.

You really don’t want to overchill the wine. Don’t stress out about it or use a thermometer, just taste the wine, and if seems too cold, let it warm up, and if it seems too warm, just let it cool down. You’ll figure it out based on how it tastes - you just have to play around with it for a while. 

https://www.decanter.com/decanter-best/best-red-wine-chilled-316301/ 

https://cluboenologique.com/story/which-red-wines-are-the-best-to-drink-chilled/

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/beverages/chilling-red-wine

Ok, so let’s talk a little more about Gamay aka Beaujolais. What do you think?

A bit about Gamay and Beaujolais 17:24

Gamay is most commonly grown in France in the area known as Beaujolias in the Loire valley which is basically a sub-region of Burgundy. Like a lot of wines, Beaujolais refers to Gamay based wines that are made in Beaujolais - but they do not call the wine from that region Gamay in France - they use the name of the area. If they are not from that region, they are called Gamay. So, this is similar to wines like Chianti, Burgundy, etc. where they are named for the region, but the varietal goes by another name when it is grown in other places - Sangiovese for Chianti and Pinot Noir for Burgundy.

There are actually three types of Beaujolais, which are based on areas in Loire where it is grown - Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, or Beaujolais Nouveau. Interestingly, Beaujolais Nouveau is released around the third Thursday of November - and in America it is not uncommon for it to show up on Thanksgiving tables. And its flavors pair well with Thanksgiving foods.

Sometimes Gamay is touted as an inexpensive alternative to Pinot Noir, but I am not so sure. That’s a pretty darn high bar. We will see what we think today as we taste it. 

Gamay is grown in other areas of the world, but the vast majority is in France. Other places include Switzerland, Canada, Turkey, and a little bit in the US, but not a ton. We do have a US made Gamay from Washington state that we are going to taste today, but it is pretty rare in these parts. More is grown in Oregon, New York, and California. So it will be really interesting to see what we think of the difference between the French and the US versions, especially, again, since not a lot of Gamay is grown in Washington State. 

Gamay tends to be fruity and flowery, and light to medium bodied, lower alcohol, with medium acidity with very low to medium tannin. Just a quick reminder on acid and tannin:

• Acidity in wine is based on how much it makes your mouth water when you drink it
• Tannin in wine is usually described as its dryness on your tongue and comes from the skin of the grapes. If your tongue dries out, like you just sucked on a tea bag, then you have a highly tannic wine.

It is supposed to be light, juicy, and fruity. It is a wine that is meant to be drunk when it is young, so long cellaring is not required! And, like we talked about a little bit ago, it should be served slightly chilled. Not quite refrigerator temperature, but not quite room temperature either. I put these wines in the fridge about an hour before we started recording. 

If you want to learn more, we have some articles on Gamay in our show notes

https://thegrapegrind.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-gamay-a-quick-guide/ 

All right, enough of this jibber jabber, let’s get to it! 

Wines and Ratings for Gamay and Beaujolais for this episode  21:24

Wine: Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages (boo-sha-lay vee-lawsh)

Region: France, Beaujolais area of the Loire valley

Producer: Louis Jadot

Year: 2020 (which is fine since these are meant to be drunk young)

Price: $11.99

Retailer: QFC (Kroger)

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grapes: Gamay

Professional Rating: Wine Enthusiast gave the 2019 a 91

What we tasted and smelled: Plum, red licorice, raspberry, lighter red fruit, tart red fruit. Pleasant, light, smooth. Not a lot of flavor. Great evening with friends wine or a game night wine. Very drinkable.

Food pairing with: Not for steak. Good with charcuterie, cheese board, white meat, ham. Cured meats.

Rating: 

• Joe:  7
• Carmela:  6

Wine: Nicolas Potel Beaujolais-Villages (boo-sha-lay vee-lawsh)

Region: France, Beaujolais area of the Loire valley

Producer: Nicolas Potel

Year: 2019

Price: $13.99

Retailer: QFC (Kroger)

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grapes: Gamay

What we tasted and smelled: Sour cherry, sour candy, tart, musty, bitter, vegetal, earthy, mushroom, dirt, stone. Soft. But astringent. Not a crowd pleaser. 

Food pairing with: Not sure you would pair it with anything.

Rating: 

• Joe: 3
• Carmela: 3

Wine: Cedergreen Cellars Gamay Noir

Region: Washington State, Columbia Valley

Producer: Cedergreen Cellars (This one may not be super easy to find)

Year: 2017

Price: $18.99 (on sale)

Retailer: QFC (Kroger)

Alcohol: 13.6%

Grapes: Gamay

Professional Rating: Many awards for this wine, including a double gold from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

What we tasted and smelled: Very nice smell. Pomegranate, cranberry, cherry candy, raspberry, ripe red fruit, tart, crunchy red fruit, crisp, watermelon, red plum, refreshing.

Food pairing with: Licorice candy. Thanksgiving dinner. Spicy foods. Turkey.

Rating: 

• Joe: 9
• Carmela: 8

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: Jadot
• Joe: Cedergreen

Taste profiles expected from Gamay:  40:32

• Pomegranate (cranberry like flavor, tart and sweet), cranberry, blackberry bramble ( relatively common but weird wine term - berry flavors mingling with a vegetal, green or spicy, peppery undertone or a slight wood note), raspberry, violet (soft, powdery, aromatic - like potpourri), potting soil, banana.
• Other flavors include strawberry, plum, currant, watermelon, herbs, granite, forest floor, mushrooms, red candy, bubble gum, mineral (rock), black pepper

Articles: 

https://thegrapegrind.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-gamay-a-quick-guide/ 

https://everythingwhat.com/what-does-bramble-taste-like

https://angelaflanders-perfumer.com/blogs/news/ingredient-focus-violets#:~:text=Violet%20flowers%20have%20a%20soft,to%20a%20woody%20floral%20tonality.

Outro and how to find us 42:52

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