Somewhat like a West Highland terrier busily digging in the garden for goodness knows what Malivoire is busily digging about in the Gamay wine world experimenting with discovering Ontario’s Gamays. I think at present they have 8 different Gamays in the bottle. It would be interesting to line them all up for a tasting but that might be a subject for another article. While Gamay in Ontario seems to come and go with Malivoire it is a steady flow. The Demo Series looks experimental as far as its label speaks with handwriting found on both the front and back label. The back label states, “This series of rare demos is imbued with our winemaker’s intent to explore, investigate and experiment.” Experiments can go terribly wrong but we all trust Malivoire not to unleash a failed experiment on its customers.
65% Gamay from the Genova Vineyard and 35% Cabernet Franc from the Cascade Vineyard.
With this trust one goes forward and samples the wine knowing that Gamay and Cabernet Franc in Ontario are two red signature grapes! On the nose there is attractive fruit of raspberry, black cherry, sweet red cherry, blueberry and Croatian mocha wafer cookies. There is a tad of earthiness to the wine which adds to its mystique. Like many Beaujolais from France there is a light fruitiness to the wine which perhaps we can describe as freshness. There is the raspberry and sweet red cherry on the palate with light weight tannins and acidity completely under control. You might venture to say it is a happy light weight. It is a perfect sipping wine yet it can suit some bistro food like a Croque Monsieur. Serve chilled it might very well suit a Japanese Cod Curry or Cauliflower Curry. There are some broad-based tannins perhaps enough to justify holding until the end of 2023. This is not an ager.
This experiment has certainly not gone awry!
Malivoire Gamay and Cabernet Franc were respectively picked on October 21 and 28 . Carbonic Maceration for the Gamay which means whole clusters are subject to fermentation and then its fermented with Cabernet Franc in old oak barrels.
This is not a big assertive wine but more on the delicate and fragile side.
This vegan and certified sustainable wine saw 295 cases made.
You may order online at https://malivoire.com/
(Malivoire Analog Demo Series 2021 Gamay & Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara Peninsula, $29.95, The Malivoire Wine Company Limited, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL, 12%, RKS Wine Rating 90/100).
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