At our neighborhood tasting last night, five French and one American gamay were tasted side by side by a group of 67 (mostly inexperienced) tasters. I purchased the ESJ, and my partner purchased the Frenchies. I did not know which he had chosen, didn't pretaste any of the wines, and have never had Steve's Bone Jolly Gamay before so for me, it was a blinder tasting than usual.
In order of my preferences:
1) Most enchanting nose by a mile, lighter color, strawberries, minerals, pomegranate. So pure it's almost weightless. I no sooner have that thought than I wonder if I'm loving the ESJ, about which either Steve or Tom Hill used that very descriptor (weightless). And indeed I was, this was the 2006 Edmunds St. John Bone Jolly Gamay Noir, Witters Vineyard, El Dorado. My first place wine, but only group 5th. I note that the other lighter wine, which was my 2nd place choice, was group 6th (where the heaviest was their 1st). I have to add that this wine scored very well at my table, garnering a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place vote from almost every taster, even Harry who has some olfactory issues and has to base his opinion on taste only. However, I'm told that at another table every single taster screwed up their noses and went "ew". Obviously, a flawed bottle. I could have replaced their wine if someone had brought that to my attention earlier, but they didn't. $16.
2) Pretty nose, cherry-strawberry in flavor, spicy and dusty. Delicate with a haunting complexity. I'm enamored but the group isn't, so my 2nd and group's last place wine is the 2006 Clos de la Roilette Cuvee Tardive, Fleurie. $17.50.
3) Peppery nose, dark better fruit, black raspberry notes, biggest body and lowest acidity of the group. Jammy notes developed over time in the glass. I gave it 3rd place before the jamminess appeared, would have placed it 5th later. But the typically American palates of my fellow tasters loved the big body and low acidity, natch, and gave this wine 1st place, though only by a nose over the wines I relegated to 4th and 5th place. And it was the 2006 Louis Claude Desvignes, Cote du Py, Morgon. $13.34.
4) Very nice gamay flavors, balanced and attractive with some of the purity that wines 1 and 2 showed, but nothing special stood out for me to note. Should have been my 3rd place wine, but for all that this group's American palate favored wine #3 I'll give them a lot of credit for making this their 2nd place wine. 2005 Domaine Pascal Berthier, Saint-Amour. $12.50.
5) Cherry vanilla nose followed by cola-ness. Nice on the palate but a bit simple compared to the others and I find the finish feels a bit hot. My 5th, group 3rd, it's the 2006 Michel Tete Clos de Fief, Julienas.
6) Raspberry tones with very mild brett. And even though it's a good kind of brett, I think it mars the wine enough to send it immediately into last place, and besides it's a bit closed and very little shows on the palate. My 6th, group 4th, for the 2006 Robert Perroud L'Enfer des Balloquets, Brouilly, a wine I've had and admired much in earlier vintages.
Overall a nice showing though, that makes me conclude that I don't drink nearly enough Beaujolais. These are truly the wines I could drink every day and never tire of.
