2007 Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir

Edmunds St. John is the only wine producer in California currently working with the true grape of Beaujolais, the "Gamay Noir Au Jus Blanc."  I chose to work with Gamay because I find the wines I love from this grape to be almost completely irresistible.  They are fresh, seductively perfumed, bright and lively to drink, charged with a kind of giddy energy that sneaks up on you, and brings a smile to your whole being.

So much wine seems to be about impressing someone with its "prestige," its "importance," it's "97 points!"  Gamay never does that.  It makes cheese taste better, or roast chicken.  Or salmon.  It makes you feel better about tipping the mailman at Christmas. It makes you want to dance!  It makes you want to kiss someone! Who wouldn't want to drink a wine like that?

Why would anyone NOT want to make a wine like that?

FRUIT SOURCE:

Witters Vineyard, El Dorado County, California

3,400 feet elevation, a few miles East of Placerville, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.  At Witters the soil is volcanic clay-loam, the same kind of soil as Fenaughty Vineyard, from which we harvest fine, highly-perfumed Syrah a few miles west, and about 600 feet lower than Witters.

At 3,400 feet the temperatures tend to be several degrees cooler than Placerville, and the night air can be cooler still. Come harvest time, the pace of ripening is slow enough to allow for considerable development of perfume and phenolic maturity without high sugar levels. That means lots of flavor, and the kind of moderate alcohol levels that, for Gamay, make the nicest wines.

WINEMAKING NOTES:

In 2007 the Gamay at Witters was ready to pick on the 26th of August; the grapes were in marvelous condition.  Nicely ripened at 21.8 degrees Brix, with .91 total acidity, and 3.25 pH.  We destemmed into half-ton bins, and allowed ferment to start under its own volition.  Twice a day the skins and juice were mixed by manual punchdown, and after 13 days the wine was dry. We pressed gently, into a variable-capacity stainless tank, and allowed the malolactic to proceed, without inoculating, then let the wine stand on its primary lees, until early February. The wine was racked and filtered, then bottled the day before Valentine's Day.  Each step of the vinification was undertaken  with the intent to maximize freshness in the finished wine.

WINEMAKER'S TASTING NOTES:

The color is a brilliant ruby with purple at the rim.  Nose bursting with the smell of crushed raspberries, and the bloody tone of mulberries, touch of iodine, a whisper of violet.  On the palate the wine crackles with energy, vivid, precise flavors that almost make me giggle with pleasure. Persistent through the finish, juicy, supple, delicious! More! More!

• Production: 348 cases
• Suggested Retail: $17.00
• Release Date: September 1, 2008

Produced and Bottled by Hook or By Crook, under the direction of Steve Edmunds, winemaker