Gamay
Beaujolais
Light, bright red fruit with almost no tannin. Carbonic maceration turns it to banana and bubblegum, which is a choice rather than the variety.
At harvest
Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties
Sugar
21-24 Brix
21 - 24
Titratable acidity
6-8 g/L
6 - 8
pH
3.2-3.5
3.2 - 3.5
Juice yield
0.69 L/kg
free run plus a gentle press
Sugar per kilogram
170 g
at 22.5 Brix, the midpoint
Fruit for 23 litres
33 kg
before racking losses
Potential alcohol
12.4-13.5%
from 1.094 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain
What it punishes
Treating it like Pinot Noir. Gamay wants a short, cool ferment and early bottling.
Made into
- Dry red
- Carbonic
- Rose
Sulphite at this pH
At pH 3.35, protecting a red wine to 0.5 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 18 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.
More vinifera red
Cabernet Sauvignon
Bordeaux, and now everywhere warm enough
23-25 BrixMerlot
Right Bank Bordeaux
22-25 BrixCabernet Franc
Loire and Bordeaux
22-25 BrixPinot Noir
Burgundy
23-26 BrixSyrah
Northern Rhone
24-27 BrixGrenache
Southern Rhone and Spain
24-26 BrixMourvedre
Bandol and Spain
24-28 BrixZinfandel
California, and Croatia before that