Gros VentreEl Dorado Gamay Noir 2018

California Gamay a bit of a rarity, and it's why vintner and winemaker Chris Pittenger is grateful to the Barsotti family for this beautiful fruit, which is located in the high country of El Dorado county, at the edge of the American River canyon, a few miles from Placerville. The wine is structured yet playful with a fruit-driven core of strawberry and cranberry, coupled with notes of violets, dried herbs, and wet gravel. The 2018 Gamay Noir was aged for 10 months in neutral French oak which enables this Red to be silky and smooth. As one of the early supporters of Gros Ventre since their debut release, Chris’s own wine project began with the 2009 vintage after years of working and learning from some of the best Sonoma Pinot Noir wineries including Williams Selyem and Marcassin, and is now concentrating his efforts making Gros Ventre, which means 'big belly' in French as his wife was pregnant, expecting their first child in the inaugural vintage. 91 cases were produced.