2015 Bow & Arrow, Gamay, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Bow & Arrow focus on Loire Valley style wines and grapes, including this Gamay Noir, but they also do Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Melon, the grape of Muscadet, all of which they take serious and craft into vibrant and tangy fresh wines. The 2015 Gamay from Oregon’s Willamette Valley is not your typical carbonic fruity style offering, it is vivid and savory with tart cherry, plum and tangy currant fruits along with crunchy stones, zesty acidity and earthy tannin. Hints of mineral spice, blood orange, red peach and raspberry also make an appearance along with a trace of walnut and loam, making for a ripe, but austere example of Gamay, it certainly pleases, though it really gets better and better with food. This is a very dark, intensely purple/black, deep and blooding red at the moment, more Touraine than Fleurie, and will be quite a shock for those that are used to light Beaujolais, but given time and cuisine, I enjoyed it with cheese burgers, everything unfolds here into a medium full brightly flavored Gamay that has plenty of pop and structure. This is one of best vintages to date of this wine and I think it should age fantastically well, it should develop nicely for another couple of years and cellar beautifully for a decade, best from 2018 to 2025. This is impressive stuff from Bow & Arrow, it really has their own style imprinted on it, it joins Brick House and Salem Wine Co. in my top top three Oregon Gamays!
($22 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive