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Mark Lipton[_1_] Mark Lipton[_1_] is offline
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Default A comparison of two American Gamays

Over the weekend, Jean and I decided to do a comparative tasting of two
of our favorite domestic Gamays, Edmmunds St. John Bone-Jolly from the
Sierra Foothills of CA and Chateau Grand Traverse Gamay from the Old
Mission Peninsula of MI.

2017 Edmunds St. John Gamay Noir Bone-Jolly (El Dorado County) started
out with a bouquet of strawberries and a light mouthfeel that I would
have judged to be from a rose had I tasted it blind. With some time in
the air, however, the wine took on weight and the fruit darkened to more
of dark cherry character. Throughout, it had enough acidity for a sense
of freshness and it has the balance to develop (under screwcap) for a
few years.

2017 Chateau Grand Traverse Gamay Noir "Limited Release" (Old Mission
Peninsula) is bottled under cork and started out of the gates as a
darker and heavier wine than the Bone Jolly, but still is light on its
feet and of medium-light body. Not quite as acidic as the Bone-Jolly,
it still was in no danger of being considered soft. Plenty of dark
cherryish fruit promises at least a couple more years of life to this wine.

In the end, the similarities of the two wines far outweighed any
differences. The Bone-Jolly is lighter in color and a bit lighter on
the palate and may also outlive the Grand Traverse. Both were utterly
delicious and a nice accompaniment to roast d'Artagnan pheasant with
risotto and asparagus (I had water with the asparagus).

Mark Lipton
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