Gamay

Browse All Gamay Recipes

Name Variations

 * Gamay Noir

About Gamay
Wikipedia Article About Gamay on Wikipedia

Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, and it probably originated as a mutation of Pinot Noir. It is a very old cultivar, being mentioned already in the 1400s. It has been cultivated because it makes for abundant production rather than due to the quality of the wine made from it.

Confusingly the Gamay name has become attached to other varieties grown in California, which at one time were thought to be the true Gamay. The grape 'Napa Gamay' is now known to be Valdeguié, and the name Napa Gamay will no longer appear on labels after 2007. Gamay Beaujolais is considered to be an early ripening Californian clone of Pinot Noir.

Gamay Noir is a permitted synonym for Gamay in the U.S.