Gamay 2023

Gamay is the only new variety to be introduced to our property since 1996. Our first plot was grafted in 2019 and the potential for this wonderful variety in our complex soils is undeniable.

Viticulture
Winemaking
Tasting Note
Reviews

Bannockburn Gamay is made from a 1.4-acre vineyard block, originally planted in 2014 and grafted to Gamay in 2019. The site sits at the base of the north facing Olive Tree Hill vineyard and the soil is made up of mixed clay over limestone.

Handpicked fruit was wild fermented initially utilising 100% whole bunch carbonic maceration, then destemmed and pressed to a single use barrique to finish fermentation. The wine was left undisturbed for 10 months prior to bottling.

The 2023 Gamay offers a fresh but concentrated nose of vibrant and lifted fruits, with lively aromas of blue berries, violets, white pepper and paprika. The flavours are fruit forward but complex and the palate is crunchy and fresh. Even as a young wine in our range, this vineyard looks like a classic Bannockburn and offers curious and complex drinking.

94 points. I love this wine, I think it’s beautiful. I probably shouldn’t talk in first person like that but forgive me. It’s a savoury, spicy, bunchy red wine with polished red berried fruit, a keen juiciness, excellent control and velvety/grapey tannin. It’s fresh, it’s savoury, it’s fruity, and it has herb/spice characters galore. It’s more-ish and then some. It’s tops. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

Print Spec Sheet

Estate

$35 Sold out

$35

$75

$75

$45

2023 Vintage

The 2023 growing season started off cold and wet. For the first time since 2011 our dam was full, and in fact overflowed for most of October and November (rainfall for the calendar year of 2022 was 800mm). Budburst was slightly behind average timing, but crops were down significantly: the bunch counts were low in the first place, we had a mild frost in September and the wet weather finally caught up with us via downy mildew. The rain stopped at the end of December.

The overall heat accumulation was the same (1338 Growing Degree Days) as 2021, both seasons on the slightly cooler side of average but differing in that the heat for 2023 was more toward the second half of the season. Veraison occurred in February and then we picked Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling in March, and Shiraz and Cabernet/Merlot in the first week of April. The picking weather was pleasant and the fruit arrived at the winery in very good condition.

While quantity was down (especially in Pinot Noir) quality was good: fresh acidity, concentration, colour, tannin and steady fermentations have us looking forward to bottling, and seemingly warmer and drier seasons as El Niño returns.

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