FEATURE | oregon wine tales
A MAN CANNOT LIVE ON PINOT ALONE Oregon Gamay growing in popularity By Sophia McDonald inot Noir and the Willamette Valley are so tightly entwined in people’s minds that they sometimes forget there are other red grapes twisting up trellises in Oregon. For those looking for some variety in the state’s top wine region, Gamay Noir may be just the thing. The grape most closely associated with France’s Beaujolais region is showing up more often and winning over both winemakers and wine drinkers. Gamay has been grown successfully in Oregon since 1987. Myron Radford at Amity Vineyards in Amity and Doug Tunnell at Brick House Wines in Newberg were among its early proponents.
P
18
|
winepressnw.com
“(They) were the ones who showed us that Gamay was a variety that made sense here and could be done at high levels,” said Scott Frank, owner of Bow & Arrow Wines in Portland. “They kind of quietly did that for years and years and nobody paid much attention.” By the early 2000s, a few things started to change. As much as visitors to the Willamette Valley loved the Pinot Noir, there was also a desire to offer them something else to try. “When you go to a tasting room and all they have is Pinot, it gets pretty boring,” said Dr. Allen Methven with Methven Family Vineyards in Dayton. “This gives people a choice.” “Don’t get me wrong — I like Pinot,” said Jason Hanson with Hanson Vineyards in
BOW & ARROW
Gamay from Bow & Arrow in Portland.
Woodburn. “It’s been very good to us over the years. But a man cannot live on Pinot alone. Finding some other things we could grow in the red department was something we were really looking for. Gamay has been a great fit.” The grape is easier to grow than famously finicky Pinot Noir, which vineyard managers appreciate. “Gamay thrives in volcanic and iron-rich soils,” said Thomas Monroe, who owns Division Wine Co. in Portland with his business partner, Kate Norris. (They also co-founded the I Love Gamay festival, which typically takes place in May but may offer some inperson tastings later this year.) “Our climate here is really well-suited for a lot of northern French varieties.” Gamay faces less disease pressure and produces slightly higher yields than Pinot. There was also a demographic and attitude change that happened in Oregon around the turn of the millennium. Many of Oregon’s early winemakers came to the Willamette Valley with the intention of creating worldclass Pinot Noir. The people who came later often had a broader vision for what Oregon could produce. Monroe and Norris went to winemaking school in Beaujolais, so they developed a fondness for Gamay early in their careers. When they opened Division Wine in 2010, a lot of other young winemakers were also just
