Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - 42

Go Gam ay
o n tario

The Beaujolais grape finds a second home in Niagara
By JAMIE GOODE

'G

amay has the potential to be
one of the key grapes in Niagara," says Svetlana Atcheva,
who works alongside winemaker François Morissette at
Pearl Morissette winery in Jordan, Ontario, Canada. "We'll
probably get a lot of flak for
saying this, but we consider it more interesting and with
more precise identity than pinot noir."
Outside of Beaujolais, few regions have made gamay any
sort of focus. And while many winemakers in Ontario seem
a little cautious about going public with gamay, a growing
number of people are working with it. In 2019, 40 producers made a total of 65 different gamay wines, close to half a
million bottles in all. This is up from 25 wines from 17 producers in 2010. There are now around 550 acres of gamay
planted in Ontario, and that area is growing.
One of the wineries leading the gamay charge in Ontario
is Malivoire, established on the Beamsville Bench of the
Niagara region in 1998 by movie special-effects producer
Martin Malivoire. "The gamay we planted was destined for
our rosé program," says Malivoire winemaker Shiraz Mottiar. "By the early 2000s, we quickly realized the potential
for gamay and started focusing on making it as a red wine."
42

WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2020

"I am only
starting to
hone in on
terroir
expressions,
but they are
clearly there."
---SHIRAZ MOTTIAR

Mottiar now produces four gamays, and the team is planting another 11 acres over the next two years. "Today, it's the
first wine we show visitors to the winery."
Mottiar also notes how his winemaking style has evolved.
"By 2004, we were starting to get a feel for the variety, such
as its tendency to go reductive in stainless steel but also its
sensitivity to oak," he says. As with many winemakers working with gamay for the first time, he treated it like pinot
noir, destemming it, giving it a cold soak, and punching
down at regular intervals during fermentation. But most
vintners in Beaujolais use carbonic or semi-carbonic maceration, with a high proportion of whole clusters in the
ferment. In strict carbonic maceration, intact clusters of
grapes are put in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and start
an intracellular, enzymatic fermentation. Semi-carbonic is a
twist on this in which carbonic and alcoholic fermentation
(by yeasts) co-occur, creating less overt fruity flavors than
full carbonic delivers.
Mottiar started experimenting with carbonic maceration in 2008. "I've settled on a semi-carbonic approach for
most of our gamays now," he says, "with thirty to one-hundred percent whole clusters." For his top gamay, from the
Courtney Vineyard, he still uses destemmed fruit and pinot
noir-style maceration, with punch downs during fermentation resulting in more structure. (The berries at Court-



Wine & Spirits - April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2020

Contents
Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - 1
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Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - Contents
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