The Louis Latour Bourgogne Gamay 2023 is a juicy, vibrant red Burgundy for charcuterie, light meat dishes, and moments when you want a lot of fruit and freshness in your glass. This wine isn't about simple Beaujolais suppleness, but a tighter regional origin with Gamay from selected crus and a style deliberately built on pure fruit and tension. The appellation is immediately relevant here. What is Bourgogne Gamay? It's a regional appellation that has existed since the 2011 vintage and only allows Gamay from a defined group of Beaujolais crus, not from ordinary Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages.
The origin of this wine lies at the intersection of Burgundy and Beaujolais, precisely where Gamay can show its most precise character.
- Location / Origin: For Bourgogne Gamay, the grapes must come exclusively from Beaujolais crus such as Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte-de-Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié, and Saint-Amour. This gives this wine a more serious foundation than a generic Beaujolais style.
- Soil: The vineyards are located on granite, clay, and limestone. This combination works well with Gamay, providing freshness, juiciness, and enough structure to give the wine tension.
- Vineyard: The average age of the vines is between 25 and 35 years, and the yield is 50 hl/ha. This helps to give the fruit sufficient concentration and consistency.
- Vineyard & Harvest: The grapes are harvested by hand. This suits a wine where selection and pure fruit are important for the final style.
The cellar approach here remains deliberately classic and clean, ensuring that the fruit remains clearly at the forefront.
- Fermentation: Fermentation traditionally takes place in open vats, followed by 100% malolactic conversion. This gives the wine a rounded, harmonious structure without losing the fresh Gamay signature.
- Aging / Oak Aging: The wine then ages for 8–10 months in stainless steel tanks. This keeps the red fruit pure, allowing the wine to rest and round out without any oak influence.
This wine is entirely built on one grape, exactly as the appellation prescribes.
- Gamay – Bourgogne Gamay: Gamay forms the complete base here, giving the wine its fresh red fruit, lively attack, and fine, harmonious structure.
