Gamay de la Vallée du Doux, “Combeaux Massardières”, Vin de France Rouge

A few years ago, Guillaume acquired a 0.3-hectare plot of 40-year-old Gamay (a smaller-berried variant known locally as Gamay Saint-Romain, distinct from the Gamay of Beaujolais) planted in pure high-acid granite at 600 meters altitude in the Ardèche, and he produces a mere 800 bottles per vintage on average—although he will soon augment that with 0.4 hectares worth of more recently planted vines. As with his Cornas, he refrains from de-stemming his Gamay, but he allows fermentation to proceed semi-carbonically here. This is well-structured and bare-knuckled in its minerality, offering tremendous energy and a certain intensity that speaks perhaps more of Cornas than Gamay, yet still with an underlying sense of lift and purity of fruit.