GAMAY: Beaujolais, Bubblegum & Strawberry Blondes!

Baby, It's cold outside and I've just decided what to drink with my Christmas Turkey. It's got to be Gamay! Distinctive and light bodied, it ticks all the boxes for Turkey; not overpowering the meat, but standing up to the trimmings.

Christmas makes you nostalgic and try as I might, I can't get this Gamay VINALOGY out of my head, so I thought I'd share...

It's snowing outside and my 9 year-old self is wrapped up warm inside the local sweet shop. There's another young girl in there, the spitting image of Annie (from the film!) Dressed in a bright pink coat and with a shock of soft, red curls, she giggles to herself as she fills a bag with strawberry bubblegum, Parma Violets and banana sweets.

This image, to me, is quintessentially Gamay - the grape that makes the famous light red wines of Beaujolais: it's easy drinking, juicy, light, super-soft and fun. Gamay smells of over ripe strawberries and is made to be drunk young and wonderful when a little chilled. It's been a hard knock life for Gamay, but this once desperately unfashionable wine is now back in vogue thanks to its juicy, light body and soft glug-ability in a world of too-heavy reds.

Beaujolais isn't all about bubblegum though. Here are the 4 main styles that get progressively more serious...

TASTING TOUR

Start with Beaujolais Nouveau - the Annie: that kid in the sweet shop! Light, bright and very gluggable, with bubblegum, raspberry and sometimes, banana flavours. Drink as fresh as possible, within 1 year of the vintage (year of production)!

Next, try a straight Beaujolais - The Isla Fisher: a gentle step up with a touch more maturity, but still that bouncy, fun kid underneath. More juicy strawberry and raspberry here.

Now, go to the next level with a Beaujolais-Villages - the Lily Cole: pretty, perfumed Gamay with a good education, a clear personal style and earning well, so it's a little bit richer and a touch more sophisticated!

At the top of the tree, is Beaujolais 'Cru' - the Miranda: in a light-hearted show, she's the serious one. More full-on, the curls have been cut and she's showing more age! There are 10 separate villages* in this Beaujolais 'crew' and they're like softer, juicer versions of Pinot Noir. Think savory spice, wild strawberry and black cherry.

* The 10 Cru will be labelled by village. Here they are, going light to heavy:
Brouilly, Regnie, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Saint-Amour, Julienas, Chenas, Morgon, Moulin a Vent.



So there you have it - Gamay is a great Christmas wine match for Turkey that you can happily glug all day. Why not try one of each to compare? You'll get through them all between you this Christmas!

Enjoy,

WB xx

PORT: The Father Christmas of wine!

Gutsy, red and full of Christmas spirit. Yes, Port is undoubtedly the Father Christmas of the wine world!

Of course, your experience of him may vary: it could be a full-on trip to Lapland, complete with snow, reindeer and well-thought out presents.... or it could be simply the school caretaker in a fake Tesco beard. Either way, simple or serious, there is no better way to feel Christmassy than to raise a glass of port. And what a great present it makes! Here's Winebird's guide to Port:

What is it? Port is red wine (usually), fortified with Brandy: during fermentation, grape sugar turns to alcohol. Adding Brandy before this process is finished stops it prematurely, leaving grape sugar in the juice so it's sweet, and adding a spirity kick to around 20% abv!

Where’s it from? Duoro valley, Northern Portugal.

Grapes: over 80 local varieties are permitted, but the main 6 are Touriga Nacional, Tinto Cão, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca & Tinta Roriz.

Types: very generally speaking, Port styles are determined by 4 factors: whether they’ve had mostly ‘bottle aging’ or ‘wood aging’ and whether they are  ‘vintage’ or ‘blended’.

* Bottle aged: when wine needs many years in the bottle to mellow.

* Wood aged: when wine has had several years in wood to mellow it. Once bottled, it's ready to drink.

* Vintage: wine made from grapes grown in one year only. With Port, conditions are only considered exceptional enough about 3 times a decade to be classified or rather, ‘declared’ as ‘vintage’ worthy. Vintage Ports, just like normal wines, are therefore considered to be of higher quality than wines blended from several (often lesser) years.

* Blended: non-vintage wines blended from several years to create a uniform style.

Tasting Tour of the main styles of Port: 

Ruby – Blended, very simple and inexpensive. Tastes like full & fruity red wine with a kick! No wood ageing, and will not improve with bottle age.

Tawny – Blended, but with 3+ years of wood age. Light, tawny brown in colour with a nutty, caramel flavour. Ready to drink once bottled and won’t improve with age.

Crusted – Blended, but unlike Tawny & Ruby, it is not filtered.  This means it can age for a few years and will throw a sediment, hence ‘crusted’. It’s a cheaper way of adding character!

LBV (Late Bottled Vintage)- wine from a single vintage (year) that has had 4-6 years wood age before bottling.  Ready to drink once bottled. If filtered, it will not improve with age. If unfiltered, it could improve for a few years in the bottle.

Vintage Port - wine from a single, declared vintage (year) that will often need 20-30 years of bottle aging. These are the finest Ports; full, complex and beautifully smooth when they’re ready. They are only permitted a  maximum of 2.5 years wood age, so its all about fruit!

Single Quinta – wine from a specific, high performing, single vineyard. Port estates often sell Single Quinta ports from a single year, when that year or ' vintage' wasn’t declared (see above). It’s just a short step away from true ‘Vintage Port’ and can be a lot cheaper and almost as good.

So, you want a wine to lay down? Go for Vintage Port, Single Quinta or Crusted, depending on how much you want to spend. Drink the others now!

For more info on the general history of Port and the top Port houses, go here.

For more in-depth info on all the various Port styles, go here.

I seriously hope that Father Christmas knows the difference...

Merry Christmas and happy drinking!

WB x

For more inf on the history of port, go here: