Results of the 2023 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Gamay

Category Overview by Judge Janet Dorozynski, PhD, DipWSET

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

I am always excited to taste and judge the gamay category at the National Wine Awards of Canada — and I always find exciting wines. The quality of gamay this year was quite high and the medal haul shows a number of well-known gamay stalwarts like 13^th Street and Malivoire from Ontario along with Orofino and Deep Roots from British Columbia. There were also newcomers and first-time winners like Divergence Wines from Niagara and Cooper’s Hawk from Lake Erie North Shore.

While gamay is not the most planted red grape in Canada, it does have an important place in our wine and viticultural history, especially in Ontario. It was one of the earlier planted vitis vinifera in Ontario, with records dating back to the 1970s. It was also the first varietal wine sold by Inniskillin to the LCBO after they were granted their winery licence in 1974.

Canada, again mostly in Ontario, has some of the largest vineyard area planted to gamay outside of Beaujolais and after Switzerland. Each year I am thrilled to hear that more wineries are planting and making gamay, both established and new wineries. It is a consistently early ripening variety, prone to over cropping if you do not monitor its vigour, and very cold hardy, which is becoming increasingly important due to the extreme cold temperatures Canadian wine regions have experienced as of late.

I love gamay for its juiciness, purity of fruit and styles that run the gamut from bright and light to concentrated and complex, with just enough seriousness to keep them interesting. Gamay is also extremely food friendly, owing to the grape’s tannin and acid structure, that make it easy to pair with many dishes but also great to sip on its own. This is the case with many of this year’s medal winners so grab yourself a bottle and #gogamaygo.

13th Street Winery 2021 Whitty Vineyard Gamay, Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Deep Roots 2022 Gamay, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Orofino 2022 Gamay, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Vieni Estates 2022 Novello Nouveau, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

13th Street Winery  2021 Gamay Sandstone, Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
13th Street Winery 2021 Gamay, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Chaberton 2022 Estate Grown Gamay Noir, Fraser Valley, British Columbia
Divergence Wines 2021 Gamay Noir Wismer Wingfield Vineyard, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Inniskillin Discovery Series 2020 Gamay Noir, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2022 Gamay ‘Concrete’, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2022 Farmstead Gamay, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2022 Genova Gamay, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Peller Estates Niagara 2021 Private Reserve Gamay Noir, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Rust Wine Co 2022 Gamay, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Stratus 2021 Gamay, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Cooper’s Hawk 2021 Gamay Noir, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Fielding 2021 Gamay Estate Bottled, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2021 Wismer-Foxcroft Gamay, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2022 Gamay Le Coeur, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2022 Small Lot Gamay, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

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