Community Review

Château des Charmes St. David's Bench Vineyard Gamay Noir Droit 2017

St. David's Bench, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada

Community Score: 4.4/5
Community Reviews: 5

Price: $19.95

Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%

Drink: 2020-2022

Bottle size: 750 ml
Winery: Château des Charmes

Molly Amoli Shinhat reviewed this wine as follows:

A Canadian-born vitis vinifera wine? This one is Canada's first. Gamay Noir Droit can only be grown in St. David's Bench Vineyard in Niagara.

It's a medium ruby headed for the deeps, which gives smoke on the nose, and speaks to the juicy, ripe cherriness to come. On the palate, it's an unusual blend of flint, dark cherry, cassis, with black pepper and spice notes in a medium body along a supple mineral spine. At 13.5% a.b.v., it's higher than many Gamays, and bone dry at 2 g/l. A dark, juicy wine, with ripe fruit, strongly balanced, a kind of Heathcliffe of Gamays, if you will.

Grown in an ancient limestone ridge from mature vines, this wine is unoaked. Who on earth would want to change this fabulous combination of flavours and aromas? Do consider putting aside a bottle or two to see how this would stand up a couple of years from now. But right now, slightly chilled, drink on a sunny day as a sipper or drink year-round with BBQ - meat, vegetables, or tofu.

During a morning walk through a Gamay planting some 30 years ago, winemaker Paul Bosc spotted a single plant growing straight up, taller than all the rest of the Gamay plantings. A fifth-generation winemaker from France, he immigrated to Niagara in the 1960s with his family and founded Château des Charmes winery in 1978. As he suspected, the plant was genetically different - Gamay's cousin? - and because of its smoky, dark fruit profile (?), he called it 'Gamay Noir Droit.'

Read Natalie's Full Review

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