2022 Domaine Terra Vita Vinum, Anjou Gamay “Ronceray Rouge” Loire Valley, France.
One of the nicest surprises in the last quarter of the year for red wines, this unique Anjou, a place most noted for Cabernet Franc, Gamay by Terra Vita Vinum really satisfied by Gamay cravings in a way that only Morgon, Fleurie and Brouilly do! This dark garnet/ruby hued 2022 Ronceray Rouge (AOC Anjou Gamay) by Terra Vita Vinum, served to me slightly chilled, has loads of expressive floral and red berry aromatics, mineral tones, a light spicy character and some whole cluster like punchiness with good fruit concentration and depth, showing wild strawberry, bramble berry, plum and dried cranberry, along with lilacs, chalky stone, cinnamon, anise, walnut husk and basil/herb notes. Medium bodied and with a fresh cut of acidity, there’s also a ripe and textural pleasure here that is wonderfully compelling, in a way remaindering me of Lapierre a bit in style, which is a very good thing. Contributing to this joyous presentation of Gamay, as told to me by Pierre Lesbre, the owner of California importer Pepite Wines, winemakers Luc Briand and Bénédicte Petit used a combination of cement tank, terracotta amphora and Foudre for the maceration, fermentation and aging here, with all biodynamic grown grapes and done with natural yeasts. I am very geeky for Gamay, so this wine especially appealed to me and I can highly recommend it to my like-minded readers, this is exciting wine and I look forward to checking out the rest of the releases here at Terra Vita Vinum.
The Terra Vita Vinum Ronceray Rouge, 100% Gamay grown on schist soils in the Loire’s Anjou region, was definitely one of my favorite wines at the recent Big Sur Food & Wine Festival and it was good to catch up with Pierre Lesbre, of, the mentioned, Pepite Wines, and taste through a few of his latest finds. I learned that this young estate, formed in 2019 by Briand and Petit, when they purchased an old estate owned previously by the Richou family and converted it to all organic farming and certified in biodynamic by Demeter with 30 hectares on the region’s schist and volcanic soils. They are focused on a holistic approach and natural winemaking, much in the same way you see in the finest estates here, and in the Cru Beaujolais zone, with the results here on their Gamay being proof of concept! Like I thought, from tasting this Anjou Gamay, Briand and Petit, use almost exclusively whole bunches and do a range of Gamay and Cabernet Franc reds, with their Violettes Anjou Cabernet Franc being one of their most sought after wines, capturing a fresher, crunchy side of the varietal. While, most famous in Beaujolais, Gamay Noir has long been in the Loire Valley, mainly grown now around Touraine. For their Ronceray Rouge Gamay they pick the grape clusters by hand from a tiny single parcel set on a terroir comprised of sandy clay loam, characterized by gray, green, rust-colored, and sometimes purplish schist, along with quartz veins, which adds to the depth, mineral essence and inner brightness of the fruit, as seen here. Gamay fans will be well served by chasing some of this stuff down, drink over the next 3 to 5 years. Thank you again Pierre for sharing this one with me!
($38 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive