Drink this One Young

Recently I tasted an aged Selection International French Gamay Nouveau. To no surprise ageing a Nouveau style wine does not pay off… 

I bottled my 2 carboys of Gamay Nouveau in May 2011 because I wanted a good quality light bodied red wine for summer drinking- and it was perfect! Fresh and juicy, Gamay Nouveau has a bold purple-pink colour and is bursting with an amazing array of fruit aromas, the low tannin levels make Gamay Nouveau extremely—sometimes perilously—  drinkable when young.  

I saved 6 bottles to see what the wine tastes like aged. The fruitiness and smoothness is now subdued and with no real tannic structure there is no complexity from ageing. The wine is ‘okay’ but it is no where near as fun to drink- even as young as 2 weeks old! So take my advice, drink your Gamay Nouveau early.

The good news is that there are still a handful of Gamay Nouveau kits available (contact your favourite Wine Sense location) and if you start one now it will be perfect for the first days of the spring and summer. It’s a great wine with grilled steaks, hamburgers and light summer fare.

Cheers,

Bruce, Manager (Wine Sense- Pembina)

Filed under: General, Wine by WineSense