Martin Woods Gamay Noir Willamette Valley 2017 (750ml)

 

Rated 91 Points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

 

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2017 Gamay opens with classic notes of peppercorn, leather, sour cherries, earth and underbrush with touches of burnt citrus peel and powdered sugar.  The palate offers a good balance of earth and fruit with spicy touches, a soft, juicy frame and lifted finish.

 

Rated 90 Points by Vinous

 

Light, bright red.  Spice-inflected strawberry and cherry qualities on the lively nose, along with a subtle touch of earthiness.  Taut and focused on the palate, offering juicy red fruit and floral pastille flavors that turn sweeter through the midpalate.  Finishes silky and long, with barely discernible tannins and lingering florality.  Drinking window:  2020 - 2023

 

Martin Woods Gamay Noir Willamette Valley 2017

 

Gamay has truly found a home-away-from-home in the Willamette Valley, where diverse and compelling expressions of the varietal can be found, as is the case with Gamay from the Beaujolais Cru.  This 2017 bottling is a tailored blend from four vineyards within three of the Willamette Valley’s sub AVA’s.  The resulting diversity of soils and microclimates lends this wine a delightful complexity.  Harvested on October 30, we carefully utilized whole clusters and partial carbonic fermentation to produce Gamay with aromatic lift and textural tension, balanced by juicy acidity and fresh red fruit.  Enjoy immediately or cellar through 2027 for mature subtlety.  450 Cases Bottled. 

 

AVA:  Van Duzer Corridor

 

Elevation:  350 Feet

 

Aspect:  Souhwest Slope

 

Soil:  Marine Sediments, with Ironstone

 

Vine Age:  Planted 2011

 

Clonal Selection:  284 from Beaujolais

 

Farming:  LIVE Certified, Dry-Farmed

 

Harvest:  October 30, 2017

 

Bottled:  July 26, 2018  Unfined & Unfiltered

 

Cases Produced:  100

 

Tasting Notes

 

Spice and red fruit, crunchy, concentrated cranberry, very juicy bright acid, especially deep and textured

 

The Terroir

 

Havlin Vineyard is one of the latest ripening sites in the Willamette Valley, due to its position in the Van duzer Corridor, the "air-conditioning" pathway through the Coast Range where marine air enters from the west and cools the Willamette Valley.  Grapes there develop thick skins and retain bright acidity as a result of the consistent wind.  Shallow, marine sedimentary soil in the Gamay block provides balanced stress to the vines, making for a sparse canopy with lots of sun exposure and airflow, and resulting in harvests of loose clusters with unusually small berries.  Gamay from Havlin Vineyard is exceptionally compact and structured.

 

The Growing Season

 

The Winter of 2017 brought a deluge of rain and the Spring was cool and wet, delaying bud break and then flowering.  The Summer was generally dry and warm, sometimes hot.  Critically, the Autumn returned to seasonably cool temperatures and several cycles of rain recharged the soil and refreshed the vines without causing significant rot issues.  We began harvesting in the Willamette Valley on September 28 (Gewurztraminer) and finished with Gamay on October 30, two-to-three weeks later than average.  The wines already display a wonderful balance of finesse, definition, generosity and depth, and they will certainly achieve greater subtlety over many years in the cellar.

 

Winemaking

 

Picked October 30, 2017 at 21.5 brix, 3.25 pH. Macrobin fermenters (open top 1.5 ton) with 35% whole clusters/whole berries.  14 days total on skins.  Combination of pumpovers and punchdowns.  Peak temperature 82 F.  Pressed to Barrel, no settling.  Aged 9 months on gross lees in 8-year old French Barrels (228L).  Racked carefully and bottled Unfined/Unfiltered on July 26, 2018.

 

 

Martin Woods

 

Our goal at Martin Woods is to produce authentic, highly-compelling wine with a distinct sense of place…Oregon.  Evan Martin, Winemaker

 

Martin Woods (the woods and the winery) is hidden in the oak-forested foothills of Oregon's Coast Range, within the cool-climate McMinnville AVA, just outside of the city of McMinnville, ground zero for the Willamette Valley wine community.

 

Martin Woods, the brand, is driven by ideals of searching out and partnering with cool-climate vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley to produce truly-exceptional, artisan, terroir-driven Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, Riesling, Gruner Veltliner and Rosé.  We also source Cabernet Franc and Syrah from the absolutely unique terroirs of northeastern Oregon:  The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater and the Walla Walla Valley.  We are attentive students of our terroirs and we are committed to responsible, sustainable farming.  We aim to produce wine with the classic qualities of elegance, lifted aromas, textural complexity, weight and tension...Highly pleasurable wines that complement cuisine and offer long cellaring potential.  Above all, we hope the wines distinctly express a sense-of-place...authentic Oregon terroir, unlike any other growing region in the world. 

 

Look for Martin Woods on discerning restaurant wine lists and in boutique wine shops near you.  

 

Evan Martin, Proprietor / Winemaker