Gamay

Gamay — properly Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc — is the light red grape behind the wines of Beaujolais, in the granite hills at the southern tip of France's Burgundy region. It yields a pale, translucent, low-tannin red bursting with crunchy red berries — fresh strawberry, raspberry and red cherry — over high, juicy acidity and only modest alcohol, the most charming and gulpable of the serious French reds. Much of it is made by carbonic maceration, a whole-bunch fermentation that softens tannin and adds the famous banana-and-bubblegum lift of young Beaujolais Nouveau. Beyond simple Beaujolais it climbs to ten named "cru" villages that give deeper, age-worthy wines, and it is also grown in the Loire, Switzerland, Canada and Oregon. Bright, fruity and best served with a slight chill, it is a versatile, food-friendly everyday red.