I’m in the Napa Valley for a few days, and on my first morning here I found myself at Oxbow Public market for some Ritual coffee. I couldn’t help browsing the wine selection and coming away with an interesting-looking bottle.

It’s made by Byron Kosuge, who worked for 15 years at Carneros winery Saintsbury, leaving in 2001. He then did shorter stints at a few other wineries, before starting out on his own in 2004. He’d wanted to make Gamay for a while and couldn’t find any grapes available, but he did manage to get hold of some cuttings. One of his growers, Brian Shephard at ‘The Shop’ vineyard (a 3.5 acre vineyard in Carneros so named because it’s planted next to Brian’s vineyard supplies shop) agreed to graft over half an acre of 15 year old vines to Gamay because Byron committed to taking the grapes, and the result is this, the first vintage of his Gamay Noir. It’s really good.

B Kosuge Wines Gamay Noir 2015 Carneros, Napa, California
13.2% alcohol. This is compact yet nicely fruity, with sleek black cherry and raspberry fruit, and a smooth, fine-grained, soft tannic structure. It’s quite old world in style, showing moderately ripe fruit but also some stony savouriness. Finely textured with lovely balance, this is a very convincing Gamay that drinks nicely. I’m impressed. 92/100 (purchased at Oxbow, Napa, for $25)

Find this wine with wine-searcher.com

• Gamay 1 – RPM Gamay Noir California
• Gamay 2 – Domaine Metrat Chiroubles ‘La Scandaleuse’
• Gamay 3 – Orofino, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
• Gamay 4 – Julien Sunier Fleurie
• Gamay 5- Radford Dale Thirst Gamay, South Africa
• Gamay 6 – Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon Javernières ‘Les Impénitents’
• Gamay 7 – Hauts de Chasselay, Coteaux du Lyonnais
• Gamay 8 – Serol Les Originelles, Cote Roannaise
• Gamay 9 – Te Mata Gamay Noir, Hawkes Bay
• Gamay 10 – Puy de Dome, Auvergne
• Gamay 11 – Beauregard Fleurie
• Gamay 12 – Antoine Sunier Morgon 2014 and Regnie 2014
• Gamay 13 – Thibault Liger-Belair Les Roucheaux 2011
• Gamay 14 – Bow and Arrow 2014 Oregon
• Gamay 15 – Domaine de Fa Beaujolais en Besset 2014
• Gamay 16, Pearl Morissette Cuvée Mon Unique Gamay 2013
• Gamay 17, BK Wines et Le Grappin Les Deux Fous Gamay
• Gamay 18, G Spot Vin de…France, Beaujolais Villages
• Gamay 19, du Grappin Fleurie 2014
• Gamay 20, Lapierre Morgon 2014 ‘N’
• Gamay 21, Bass Phillip Gamay 2014 Gipplsand
  
• Gamay 22, Château de Durette Morgon ‘Hommage’ 2014
• Gamay 23, Joie Farm Gamay 2014 Okanagan, Canada
• Gamay 24, Samantha Gamay 2014 Okanagan, Canada
• Gamay 25, Julien Sunier Fleurie 2015
• Gamay 26, Jean-Paul Thevenet Morgon 2015
• Gamay 27, Lapierre Morgon 2009
  
• Gamay 28, Domaine Verdier-Logel Poycelan 2016
• Gamay 29, B Kosuge Wines Gamay Noir 2015 Carneros