Gamay Wine: Taste, Beaujolais Crus and Food Pairing

Gamay is a light, juicy red grape best known as the grape of Beaujolais. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, and it makes dry reds with bright acidity, very little tannin and lots of red fruit. About half of the world’s Gamay grows in Beaujolais, and you will also find it in the Loire Valley, Switzerland, Canada and Oregon. If you want a red you can chill a little and serve with almost anything, from roast chicken to salmon, Gamay is a great place to start.

What Gamay tastes like

Wine Folly lists Gamay as dry, medium-light in body, with medium-high acidity and almost no tannin, at about 10–11.5% alcohol. Its main flavors, per Wine Folly, are pomegranate, blackberry bramble, violet, peony and an earthy, “potting soil” note. Inter Beaujolais, the region’s wine council, describes the aromas as mostly fruity: raspberry, wild strawberry, blackberry and black cherry, sometimes with a peppery or floral edge.

Acidity is the fresh, mouth-watering tang in a wine. Tannin is the drying, grippy feel that comes from grape skins; Gamay has very little of it.

Trait	Typical Gamay
Sweetness	Dry
Body	Light to medium-light (fuller in some Beaujolais crus)
Tannin	Low
Acidity	Medium-high
Alcohol	About 10–11.5% (Wine Folly); some crus run higher
Main flavors	Raspberry, strawberry, cherry, pomegranate, violet, earth

Style varies with the winemaking and the place. Wikipedia notes that Gamay made by whole-berry maceration has more body, and that in cru Beaujolais it can show sour cherry, black pepper and dried berry. For how it compares with other reds by body, see our guide to the types of red wine.

Carbonic maceration: why young Gamay tastes so fruity

A lot of Gamay, and especially Beaujolais Nouveau, is made by carbonic maceration. Wikipedia explains the method: whole, uncrushed bunches go into a sealed tank filled with carbon dioxide, and fermentation starts inside each intact berry. Grapes at the bottom of the tank get crushed by the weight above and ferment the normal way. Semi-carbonic maceration, the method used for Beaujolais Nouveau, is a short carbonic phase followed by a conventional yeast fermentation.

The result, per Wikipedia, is a fruity wine with very low tannin that is ready to drink quickly but lacks the structure for long aging. Wikipedia’s Gamay entry adds that the technique softens the grape’s naturally high acidity and brings out strawberry and raspberry, plus floral notes of lilac and violet.

Where Gamay grows

Inter Beaujolais puts world plantings of Gamay at about 30,000 hectares (about 74,000 acres), and half of them are in Beaujolais. Before phylloxera, the vine pest that wrecked Europe’s vineyards in the late 1800s, the council estimates Gamay covered more than 160,000 hectares in France. It ripens early and seems to prefer granite soils, though it adapts to others.

Beaujolais and the 10 crus

Beaujolais, just north of Lyon, is Gamay’s heartland: Inter Beaujolais says the grape covers 98% of the vineyards that produce Beaujolais. Inter Beaujolais lists 12 appellations across about 13,500 hectares, running about 55 km (34 miles) from north to south. In the south the soils are often clay, sometimes chalky. In the north, where the crus are, they are often sandy and partly granitic.

The 12 appellations are two regional ones, Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages, plus ten village appellations called the crus:

The 10 crus of Beaujolais
Brouilly	Juliénas
Chénas	Morgon
Chiroubles	Moulin-à-Vent
Côte de Brouilly	Régnié
Fleurie	Saint-Amour

Plain Beaujolais and Nouveau are the lightest, grapiest styles. The crus range from fragrant, delicate wines such as Fleurie and Chiroubles to deeper, firmer reds such as Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent that can age for years.

The Loire Valley

Gamay is also an important red grape in the Loire Valley. Wikipedia notes that it is grown extensively around Tours, usually blended with Cabernet Franc and Côt (the Loire name for Malbec). Within the large Touraine appellation:

• Touraine Primeur, the Loire’s answer to Beaujolais Nouveau, is made only from Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc.
• Touraine red may include Gamay, but Wikipedia says Gamay is only used for wines sold in their first year, which it describes as light, fruity and a bit rustic.
• Touraine-Amboise blends Gamay with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Côt.
• Touraine Mesland makes Gamay-based wines that Wikipedia credits with “considerable finesse”.

Gamay also goes into Loire rosé.

Oregon

Gamay is a small but growing niche in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the state’s Pinot Noir country. According to Wikipedia, Amity Vineyards introduced Gamay to the Willamette Valley in 1988, and Division Winemaking Co. in Portland is now the largest Oregon producer. A 2020 Oregon Wine Press feature profiled several growers: Brick House near Newberg had grown Gamay since 1992, and Division was then making six all-Gamay wines, about 2,700 of its 7,000 cases a year. One producer told the magazine that Gamay yields more fruit per acre than Pinot Noir, which lets wineries sell it for less.

The same feature describes Oregon Gamay as light, approachable and low in tannin, with raspberry, strawberry, lilac and violet. We’d look for it when you want a domestic alternative to Beaujolais.

Switzerland and Canada

Wikipedia notes that Gamay is widely grown around Lake Geneva in Switzerland and is common in Canada’s Niagara Peninsula, with more in Prince Edward County and British Columbia.

What “Gamay Beaujolais” and “Napa Gamay” mean in California

Two old California names cause confusion. Gamay Beaujolais is, per Wikipedia, an early-ripening California clone of Pinot Noir, not the Beaujolais grape. Napa Gamay was a name for a different grape, Valdiguié, and Wikipedia says it hasn’t appeared on labels since 2007. If you want true Gamay from the US, look for “Gamay” or “Gamay Noir” on the label.

A grape banned from Burgundy

Gamay takes its name from the village of Gamay, south of Beaune in Burgundy, where it first appeared in the 1360s, according to Wikipedia. It spread quickly because it was easy to grow and gave large crops. In July 1395, Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy banned it, calling it the “disloyal Gaamez”, and a later duke issued a second edict about sixty years after that. Burgundy’s best slopes went to Pinot Noir, and Gamay found its home farther south in Beaujolais, where Inter Beaujolais says it has been planted since the early 17th century.

How to read the label

• French labels name the place, not the grape. “Beaujolais”, “Beaujolais-Villages” or a cru name such as “Morgon” or “Fleurie” on a red wine means Gamay.
• “Nouveau” or “Primeur” means a young wine released a few weeks after harvest. Drink it within months.
• Touraine Primeur is all Gamay. Other Touraine reds are usually blends, and Wikipedia notes that Gamay goes only into Touraine wines sold in their first year; look for “Gamay” on the front or back label.
• New World labels usually name the grape: “Gamay” or “Gamay Noir” in Oregon and Canada. “Gamay Beaujolais” on an old California label is a Pinot Noir clone.
• Alcohol. Wine Folly puts typical Gamay at 10–11.5%. In our view, a higher number usually points to a riper, fuller wine.

Food pairing

Gamay’s fresh acidity cuts through fat, and its low tannin means it won’t clash with fish or delicate food. Wine Folly calls it one of the few reds that pairs with a wide range of dishes, and suggests sweet and sour salmon, beef stroganoff and sesame tempeh. Oregon winemakers interviewed by Oregon Wine Press suggested roast chicken with vegetables, pork stews, cedar-plank salmon, shrimp and grits, and steak frites.

These are our suggestions:

Dish	Why it works
Roast chicken or turkey	Light red fruit flatters white meat without overpowering it
Charcuterie, pâté, cheese board	Bright acid refreshes the palate between rich bites
Salmon or tuna	Low tannin means no metallic clash with oily fish
Pork chops, sausages	A cru such as Morgon has enough depth for richer meat
Mushroom dishes, lentils	Gamay’s earthy side echoes the flavors

Gamay is also one of the best reds for the holiday table, which is why it features in our guide to the best wine for Thanksgiving.

Good-value bottles to try

We don’t name specific Gamay bottles on this page. Our picks follow how we rate wine: each one needs a published critic score for a named vintage and a US price checked at two or more retailers, and we list them on our value pages rather than here.

What we’d look for: Beaujolais-Villages and the lesser-known crus such as Régnié, Chiroubles and Brouilly are often where Gamay gives the most for the money, in our view. Under our thresholds, a Gamay scoring 90 to 92 points is a Great Value at $20 or less and a Good Value at $30 or less. For red wines that have passed our check, see our best wine under $20 list.

How to serve it

Gamay tastes best a little cooler than most reds. Inter Beaujolais publishes these serving temperatures:

Wine	Serve at
Beaujolais Nouveau	12°C (54°F)
Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages	13–14°C (55–57°F)
Beaujolais crus	15–17°C (59–63°F); 17°C for crus over three years old
Gamay rosé	5–8°C (41–46°F)

Wine Folly’s range for Gamay in general is 55–60°F (12–15°C). Inter Beaujolais suggests putting the bottle in the fridge’s vegetable drawer about an hour before serving, warns that longer chilling mutes the flavors, and says never to use the freezer.

• Glass: Wine Folly suggests an “aroma collector” glass; an all-purpose glass is fine.
• Decanting: Wine Folly suggests about 30 minutes, though we’d skip it for Nouveau and simple Beaujolais.
• Aging: Wine Folly gives three to five years for most Gamay. Drink Nouveau within months, and keep the sturdier crus longer.

Tip: If a Gamay tastes flat or a little hot, give it 15 minutes in the fridge. A slight chill brings the fruit and acidity back into focus.