Wine Picks, April 2011

By Michele Hébert

Domaine Sauvète, “Les Gravouilles”
Touraine 2009
Taylor’s Market  $15.99

Gamay is best known as the grape of Beaujolais wine, but it is also grown extensively in the Loire Valley, especially in the Touraine district. The Touraine is known to tourists for its many grand chateaux, gracing the riverbanks of the Loire River. It is known to wine lovers as home to some exceptional wines, like top-quality Vouvray and Chinon; and many humble, but delicious, wines made under the Touraine appellation.  This is Touraine Gamay: juicy and blackberryish with a hint of brambles and black pepper. Gamay has naturally high acidity so its wines are always refreshing. Like the chateaux, Domaine Sauvète sits on a flinty plateau overlooking the river among its pristine, organic vineyards. This is a tasty, well made wine; perfect for sipping with friends over a plate of charcuterie, preferably in some warm weather and on a picnic table.

Cave de la Cote-Uvavins “Dubaril”
2008 Gamay Romand
Corti Brothers $22.99

Every bottle of Swiss wine I’ve had has been tasty and interesting at worst and utterly delicious at best. I was excited to see a new item in the small Swiss section at Corti Brothers. Most Swiss wine is consumed in country, so it can be difficult to find any in the United States at all.  This wine is from is from Romandy, the french-speaking part of Switzerland where the wines are made from French varietals like Pinot Noir and Gamay (occasionally blended together to make a wine called Dôle). This bottling, from Cave de la Cote-Uvavins, is made entirely from Gamay. Compared to most French Gamay, this wine is greener and leaner, with licorice notes that remind me of Grignolino from Northwest Italy. It isn’t without fruitiness, but of sour fruits like currants or very tart cherries. This wine is made by a co-operative — an operation that culls grapes from hundreds of small growers — as opposed to a single estate wine, and were this bottle from France or Italy it’d be about five dollars cheaper.  Swiss wine comes along rarely enough, I think it’s worth the extra cash. It was great with a slight chill served alongside pasta and chickpeas.