Since its first release, Meadowbank’s Gamay has generated considerable excitement in the trade. With some foresight, Meadowbank’s original Pinot Block was planted to Gamay in 1987. In 2015, a second small Gamay block (descriptively named ‘Top Woolshed’) joined the ranks. Both are farmed sustainably.
2022 was a cooler, slower-ripening year with good flavour intensity, but unfortunately for Dredgey, very low yielding. Typically, in the cooler years, he doesn’t put the fruit through 100% carbonic, so in 2022 each block was picked separately. The old-vine fruit went through carbonic and the young vine fruit was entirely destemmed. After fermentation it was pressed straight to inert French oak barriques, where it stayed for three months on lees. The wine was bottled without fining or filtration.