Another Gamay Noir from Willamette Valley

Brick House scores high on the provocative scale.

One sniff and we were hooked. The Brick House Vineyards “Due East” Gamay Noir 2022, from Willamette Valley’s Ribbon Ridge AVA, offers one of the most seductive bouquets of any wine I have sniffed. Made from vines planted in 2009 on a steep, east-facing hillside, certified biodynamic and aged 10 months in neutral French oak barrels, the wine displays a brilliantly transparent ruby-cherry hue and heady aromas of violets and rose petals, cherry-berry-cola notes, pomegranate, orange rind, hibiscus and oolong tea; the whole amalgam is evocative, flirtatious and provocative; sleek and lithe on the palate, the wine develops spicy blackberry and blueberry flavors and something slightly exotic — elderberry? mulberry? — with undertones of tar, licorice, black pepper and bittersweet chocolate; it’s quite dry, and lest you mistake this panoply of sensual delights for some sort of pushover, deep in the core lies a heart of iodine and iron that feels as if it expresses the character of the vineyard and its setting. A comfortable 12% alc. Now through 2026 or ‘27. Production was 95 cases. Winemaker was Doug Tunnell. Excellent. About $46.