PDX Food Press

I Love Gamay Wine Festival Returns to Portland May 3-6

by

Tickets are on sale now for the annual wine festival celebrating Gamay Noir

PORTLAND, Ore. (April 2, 2019) – Tickets are on sale now for the third annual I Love Gamay festival, returning to Portland May 3-6. It’s time to give Gamay Noir its due. I Love Gamay is a first-of-its-kind event that brings together adventurous wine lovers and Oregon Gamay producers as well as a few friends from California, Washington and British Columbia for a great excuse to throw a party celebrating our favorite under-the-radar varietal. We also invite our distributor friends to bring small production Beaujolais to pour alongside our West Coast varieties! The Nightwood will play host to fun and educational events that let you get to know North American Gamay, as well as some incredible wines from our friends across the pond, France! Don’t miss the Gamay tasting salon on day one to kick off Oregon Wine Month from the Oregon Wine Board and Gamay Week. Local producers and wine experts will be on hand to offer their knowledge on this lesser-known gem. Yes, Oregon is known for its esteemed Pinot Noir, but we want to blow the lid off Oregon’s other noir rouge grape! Join us May 3-6 for the third year of I Love Gamay as we party at events around town.
For more information, and for purchasing tickets, please visit http://www.ilovegamay.com/. Follow along using the hashtag #Ilovegamay, or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ilovegamay/; and on Instagram @i.love.gamay.

 

The Parlour @ The Nightwood | Friday May 3rd, 2019 | 6pm – 8pm | $60
Join us at The Parlour at The Nightwood for a special Gamay class from our friends at Sunday School. Intimate and accessible, the evening will introduce you to the full range of Gamay’s temperaments — from fun and flirty to buttoned-up seriousness. You’ll taste samples from both Oregon and the Old World that showcase the wine’s versatility and character. We’ll tell the story of Gamay’s spectacular rise, fall and rebirth, and you’ll also discover why the grape is now gathering a cult of devout followers in the Willamette Valley and beyond. A full flight of Gamay (including bubbles!) plus enchanting bites from The Nightwood included.

 

Willamette Valley Trip | Saturday May 4th, 2019 | 9am-5:30pm | $150
Calling all Gamay fans! Let’s hop on a vintage bus and take an adventure to the beautiful Willamette Valley. This wine lovers paradise is practically in Portland’s backyard. In less than an hour we can be right where the grapes grow and the wine is made. Our favorite tour guide extraordinaire will be at the helm: Chevonne Ball of Dirty Radish, who leads exclusive tours in Oregon & France, including Beaujolais! (She’s Gamay-crazy like the rest of us!) Tom Monroe, co-owner of Division Wine Co & SE Wine Collective, will be our chaperone, waxing poetic about all things Gamay. Our chauffeur Jeff Kennedy of The Vintage Tour Bus Co. will get us there is style! This is a one-of-a-kind adventure not to be missed!

 

Gamay Field Trip Itinerary
9:00 am – Meet at The Nightwood for coffee + pastries
9:30 am – Depart The Nightwood
10:40 am – Hundred Suns Wine Tour + Tasting
12:40 pm – Depart for lunch at Pizza Capo in McMinnville
2:30 pm – Brick House Vineyards Vineyard Walk, Tour + Tasting
4:30 pm – Depart
5:30 pm – Arrive back at The Nightwood

 

The Nightwood Society | Sunday May 5th, 2019 | 4pm – 7pm |$35
Join us for the 3rd annual Gamay Tasting Salon at The Nightwood, featuring more than 25 wineries each pouring its latest Gamay Noir wines. Trail blazing Oregon wine producers have largely led the domestic growth of Gamay Noir, and this year we’ll be inviting some friends from California, Canada and France to celebrate I Love Gamay with us!

 

The Nightwood Society | Saturday May 5th, 2019 | 8pm-12am | Free
Join us after the I Love Gamay Tasting Salon for a rip-roaring after party! Wines will be on the table and music will be cranked. The Nightwood Society is providing the snacks. Producers will be on hand to talk Gamay. Can’t wait to see you all there! A bottle of wine in hand and RSVP required.

 

Coopers Hall | Monday May 6th, 2019 | 3pm – 5pm | $30
Between Two Barrels: Wine & Conversation is an exciting opportunity to learn about the Gamayzing grape’s historical significance in France and its exploding interest in the New World with Oregon at the epicenter. Conversations will be moderated by one of our favorite sommeliers, Joel Gunderson, of Coopers Hall (and now a stellar Gamay maker). Joel will once again moderate the panel discussion and steer the tasting component.

 

Panelists:
Paul Gregutt – Contributing Editor, Wine Enthusiast
Steve Edmunds – Winemaker/Owner, Edmunds St. John (a pioneering CA Gamay producer)
Chevonne Ball – Founder, Dirty Radish (a leading wine tourism company focused on guided trips to the Beaujolais who is also working on a book about Gamay!)
Andy Fortgang – Co-owner/Wine Director, Le Pigeon

 

Bar West | Monday May 6th, 2019 | 7pm – 10pm | $75
Come along on our fantastic voyage of food and wine. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with our friends at WEST to host our inaugural Tour De Gamay! The Tour is an interactive tasting experience designed to build knowledge of our favorite varietal while building community through food and wine. Our featured Oregon winemakers are partnering with Portland chefs to create unforgettable pairings and flavors at five distinct stations. Each table will be curated by style and story, with winemakers pouring 1-2 wines paired with a beautiful dish from every chef created by a bounty of ingredients from our favorite local farms. Wine experts will be on hand to inspire conversation and answer questions about Oregon Gamay. The Tour is a unique educational opportunity to dive deep into Oregon wine and food. But like everything I Love Gamay, this is still a party, and we will be cranking tunes and getting loud!

 

*Most of the evening will be standing with a few tables available to rest and reboot. Bar West will be open with a full bar and dining menu available all evening. Get ready to engage in thoughtful conversation about farming, winemaking and anything else that has you curious about Oregon’s unmatched wine and food culture. See you there!

 

Althea Grey Potter | Oui Wine Bar
Lucian Prellwitz & Morgan Deeks | Bar West
Sarah Schneider | The Nightwood Society
Participating Wineries & Chefs | TBD

 

ABOUT I LOVE GAMAY
The I Love Gamay celebration was founded by a handful of Oregon food and wine industry veterans that love the Gamay grape and thought it was about time to showcase the growing number of deliciously crafted and unique Gamay wines coming from Oregon. The organizers hope to teach folks in the region about this lesser known varietal and bring in friends from other regions in the PNW and beyond to showcase this amazing grape! Visit ilovegamay.com for more information. Follow along on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ilovegamay/; and on Instagram @i.love.gamay, and use the hashtag #Ilovegamay.

 

ABOUT SE WINE COLLECTIVE
Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe, of Division Winemaking Company, founded the Southeast Wine Collective in 2012 in response to their personal interest in creating a unique, multi-faceted urban winery, coupled with increasing public interest in the urban wine movement. The pioneering urban winery brings together like-minded wineries who are sustainably growing their businesses by offering a venue for commercial custom crush wine production, tastings and events in the bustling area of SE Portland, and is also home to Oui! Wine Bar + Restaurant. The collective is made up of 12 wineries: Division Winemaking Company, Croom, Esper Cellars, 51 Weeks, Gersing Cellars, Laelaps Wines, Loop de Loop, Ore Winery, Pampleau, Stedt, Statera Cellars, Welsh Family Wines, and continues to work as an incubator for future wine brands and budding industry ideas. Currently 20 varieties of grapes are vinified at the Collective, ranging from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc to less common Oregon and US produced varieties, such as Gamay Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chenin Blanc and Nebbiolo. The wine bar and restaurant, Oui!, features pours, flights, glasses and bottles from all 12 Collective members, plus an extensive list of global wines that inspire the makers, along with draft beer, wines on tap, 2 Wine Clubs and a creative and seasonal food menu by Chef Althea Grey Potter. Wine bottles and growlers of wine and beer are also available for retail purchase to-go. Oui! was named Best New Restaurant 2018 by Portland Monthly, a Best Restaurant in Portland by Time Out, one of Portland Monthly’s 15 All-Time Favorite Places to Drink in Portland, The Oregonian’s 10 New Wine Bars in Portland, one of Eater’s Essential Bars in Portland, and has received recognition from The Portland Mercury in the article, “Badasses in the Kitchen.” In 2016, co-founders Monroe and Norris were named to Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 list of tastemakers. The Collective was listed among the Top 20 Best Wine Bars in America by Wine Enthusiast, one of the 11 Must-Eat Restaurants in Portland by Town and Country, 10 Best Urban Wineries in USA Today, and Best Wine Bars in The Oregonian. Travel + Leisure called the Collective a must for any wine connoisseur’s Perfect Weekend in Portland, It has also been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, the New York Times article “Bringing the Wine to Portland, Ore.”, Wine Spectator’s “The New Portland”, Portland Monthly’s article “Meet Portland’s Top Urban Winemakers, and named a favorite place to try new Oregon wines in Willamette Week. Eater called the Collective one of the 14 Vital Restaurants on SE Division, and Willamette Week called them pioneers in the Portland wine bar scene. Wines produced at the Collective have been mentioned in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times. The winery hosts large and small events, wine release parties and winemaker dinners and is available for rent for private parties. Its hours are Mon. 4 – 9 p.m., Wed, Thurs 4 – 10 p.m., Fri. 4 – 11 p.m., Sat. 1 p.m. – 11 p.m. and Sun. 1 p.m. – 9 p.m., or by appointment. The Collective is located at 2425 SE 35th Place, Portland, Oregon 97215. Find more information at www.sewinecollective.com, Facebook SE Wine Collective, Twitter @SEWineColl, Instagram @SEWineCollective or by calling 503-208-2061.

 

ABOUT THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY
Michelle Battista and Kati Reardon, of The Nightwood Society, formed their ‘lady-first’ collective and opened The Nightwood doors in October 2017. The Nightwood is a culinary adventure offering one-of-a-kind experiences in food and drink. The Nightwood is part private event space, part creative incubator, and home to a rotating series of kitchen, wine and creative classes, including butchering instruction through Portland Meat Collective. Even in Portland’s groundbreaking food scene, there’s room for something totally new – immersive dining that creates a sense of community through food and design.The Nightwood curates one-of-a-kind private and public events large and small focused on food and design. The Nightwood is located at 2218 NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon 97232. Find more information at www.thenightwoodsociety.com Facebook: The Nightwood Twitter: @thenightwoodsoc LinkedIn: The Nightwood Society Instagram: @thegnightwoodsociety or by calling 971-236-2267