I love Gamay grown in Burgundy, so I couldn't resist this bottle when I saw it at the store: $15, 11.5%(!) listed alcohol. Only the second Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire I've seen at retail in NYC (the other is the Joseph Roty bottling).
This is 100% Gamay from the Hautes Cotes de Beaune, and super-organic/biodynamic, with a whole bunch of organic-type certifications on the bottle. It has many of the elements I love in Burgundian Gamay- a strong gaminess, red fruit, and a refreshing mouthfeel. This is dark purple in color, but quite translucent in the glass and only lightly tannic- and it seems to show best at "cellar temp".
Unfortunately, the wine is marred by a a really strong bell-pepper note, something I've never encountered before in Gamay. It makes for an intellectually interesting wine, but its a little bit too funky for pure enjoyment.
It's a shame, because I like the refreshing non-chaptalized feel of the wine and there's some light-but-pleasant cranberry fruit in there and an intriguing chalky minerality. If I were tasting this truly blind; which is to say, with a blindfold, I suspect I'd guess this was Gruner Veltiner.
I would be interested in tasting this wine again from a vintage with less rot; I can't imagine the superorganic method of production handled 2007 very well.