2023 GAMAY
94 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine
Gamay is hot property right now and if you are yet to commence your exploration, or still checking out the scene, make a bee-line for this Lyons Will 2023. It is nothing short of a gobful of lip smacking delish. It's worth noting that 2023 was a cool vintage and the fruit was the latest picked on record for Lyons Will.
A lavish introduction awaits with scents of lavender and purple flowers. Charming blueberries and mulberries are the main players with some dark plums tucking in behind. Tilled earth and a hint of black tea add some interest. A little dissolved CO2 can be seen early but that's nothing of concern as it moves on - that's the carbonic maceration component talking. Lively, silky and simply delicious drinking, an ever so fine smattering of peppery spice tickles the taste buds on close. It's a beautiful wine and one that just slides down with absolute ease. Lazy afternoons, wine bars, casual get togethers or burger night - all bases are covered. Bring it!
90 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Light cherry red colour. crushed cherry, bramble and bitumen aromatics. Tightly wound on the palate, red cherry and crushed rosemary notes are lifted and driven by a bright acid line. It carries good length and drive, but perhaps just a little narrow for now. Time should see it relax.
Gamay is hot property right now and if you are yet to commence your exploration, or still checking out the scene, make a bee-line for this Lyons Will 2023. It is nothing short of a gobful of lip smacking delish. It's worth noting that 2023 was a cool vintage and the fruit was the latest picked on record for Lyons Will.
A lavish introduction awaits with scents of lavender and purple flowers. Charming blueberries and mulberries are the main players with some dark plums tucking in behind. Tilled earth and a hint of black tea add some interest. A little dissolved CO2 can be seen early but that's nothing of concern as it moves on - that's the carbonic maceration component talking. Lively, silky and simply delicious drinking, an ever so fine smattering of peppery spice tickles the taste buds on close. It's a beautiful wine and one that just slides down with absolute ease. Lazy afternoons, wine bars, casual get togethers or burger night - all bases are covered. Bring it!
90 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Light cherry red colour. crushed cherry, bramble and bitumen aromatics. Tightly wound on the palate, red cherry and crushed rosemary notes are lifted and driven by a bright acid line. It carries good length and drive, but perhaps just a little narrow for now. Time should see it relax.
2022 GAMAY
94 Points - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
A delightful drink full of heady aromatics with a juiciness and tang across the palate. Expect a floral release of red roses and cherry blossom, lots of rosehips too and all through a light dusting of baking spices. It barely hits medium bodied as supple, easy tannins give way to the pull of acidity keeping this buoyant and lively. Nice one.
93 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Tension and purity of fruit are hallmarks. Red cherry, all succulent and fresh feeling, crisp tannin and acidity gently there, a lift on all that red fruit from violet floral characters, rose hip tea, cranberry. It’s a delight to drink, easy but with enough shape and length that you know you’re onto something fancier. Bright, vivacious expression done really well.
92 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Pale and bright ruby in the glass. Red cherry and crushed rose petal aromatics. Light to medium weight with a delicious slippery glide across the tongue. Red berries, hints of anise and nori add layers of interest. Good length with acidity playing the major structural role.
4 Stars - Lester Jesberg, Winewise
One of the best Australian gamays we’ve tasted. The scents of strawberry and cherry are very appealing, as is the plush, finely structured palate. A delicious drink.
91 Points - Emma Farrelly, Wine Pilot
Intense and elevated with savoury/smoky complexity and perky, red cherry fruits leading the aromatics. Plump yet fine boned palate weight with a coiling tug of acid through the middle. This is delicate and lacy…needs a little time to open up and show the layers. I feel this is an excellent food wine and would be delightful alongside duck parfait, or chargrilled sausage.
A delightful drink full of heady aromatics with a juiciness and tang across the palate. Expect a floral release of red roses and cherry blossom, lots of rosehips too and all through a light dusting of baking spices. It barely hits medium bodied as supple, easy tannins give way to the pull of acidity keeping this buoyant and lively. Nice one.
93 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Tension and purity of fruit are hallmarks. Red cherry, all succulent and fresh feeling, crisp tannin and acidity gently there, a lift on all that red fruit from violet floral characters, rose hip tea, cranberry. It’s a delight to drink, easy but with enough shape and length that you know you’re onto something fancier. Bright, vivacious expression done really well.
92 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Pale and bright ruby in the glass. Red cherry and crushed rose petal aromatics. Light to medium weight with a delicious slippery glide across the tongue. Red berries, hints of anise and nori add layers of interest. Good length with acidity playing the major structural role.
4 Stars - Lester Jesberg, Winewise
One of the best Australian gamays we’ve tasted. The scents of strawberry and cherry are very appealing, as is the plush, finely structured palate. A delicious drink.
91 Points - Emma Farrelly, Wine Pilot
Intense and elevated with savoury/smoky complexity and perky, red cherry fruits leading the aromatics. Plump yet fine boned palate weight with a coiling tug of acid through the middle. This is delicate and lacy…needs a little time to open up and show the layers. I feel this is an excellent food wine and would be delightful alongside duck parfait, or chargrilled sausage.
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2021 GAMAY
92 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Dark cherry and lots of floral perfume, some musk sticks and sweet spice and a whiff of truffle-mushroom savouriness too. Beefier and meatier than some releases, quite a bit of malty grip in the mix too. Feels quite rich, round, then also transparent at the same time. Curious thing. In the end, vibrant, true to gamay light to medium weight zone and in the fragrant and supple zone expected. Delightful, in its way. |
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2020 GaMAY93 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine
Oh, Gamay! What a way to steal someone's heart. So slick and glorious. Only 48 cases were produced and it'll be gone in a heartbeat.Dark plums and blackcurrants rain down. Licks of port wine jelly too. Hints of meatiness, the soft and silky mouthfeel is a dreamboat. The previous vintage was made with 70% carbonic maceration whereas this vintage sees only 40%. It loses none of its vibe and outgoing persona. I just want in. A winner deluxe! Drink to five years. 93 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front Slurpy, sour-sweet red cherry characters, tart and refreshing, red berries, white pepper, some dilution in flavour but a generally cherry, refreshing expression on hand. Blood orange tang, some amaro notes, medicinal cherry. Pleasing wine here. Easy to like and get into. 91 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front It’s light and acidic but it builds appreciably as it breathes. It’s an interesting wine, beautiful to smell, flush with velvety tannin, a but nutty in taste and persona, perhaps a touch reductive, full of cranberry and fresh red cherry, a bit of redcurrant too as the air takes hold. You need to be patient with this wine; you need to sit and take in its perspective. It rewards. 90 Points - Gabrielle Poy, The Real Review Enticing notes of spiced cherries and redcurrants with a palate of gliding tannins and poise. This is a delicious gamay that doesn’t take itself too seriously, letting the precise and spicy fruit take the lead. A lovely medium-bodied wine. |
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2019 Gamay
94 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine
Gamay brings nothing but big smiles and thrusts you into the pleasure zone. My suggested food match is a large bowl of chips straight out of the air fryer with some footy or a trashy reality TV program to watch. Damn, this slides down so well. In the words of Meg Ryan, "Yes, yes, yes!" Medium-bodied, it's such a luscious and slurpable wine. 70% went through carbonic maceration with 100% whole bunches and spent five weeks on skins. It was then basket pressed to old French oak for 11 months. Captivating scents of lavender get you in the mood. Blue and purple fruits cascade over one another delivering a wine of supreme juiciness and delicious moreishness. A little acid crunch and an ever so fine spice chimes in late, but honestly, how can you stop at two glasses? Brilliant! Drink to three years. 93 Points - Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer This is the third vintage of Gamay produce by Lyons Will Estate, with the fermentation being 100% whole bunch with 65% of the grapes undergoing carbonic maceration. The resulting wine has crunch, spice and verve and is an excellent representation of the vibrant, yet textural wines that can be made from Gamay. The palate focuses on cherry and strawberry with an understated herbaceous thread that when combined with gentle whole bunch spice gives a wonderful texture to the wine. The length shows punchy red berry fruit with a savoury twist and very good length. 92 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front Macedon Gamay. What a wonderful world. Rose oil, peppermint, ripe strawberry, brown spice. Fleshy, ripe strawberry, soft acidity, amaro herbs, silty tannin and stony feel, juicy but bitter finish of good length. Tasty. Interesting. |
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2018 Gamay
93 Points - Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer
The ferment included 40% whole bunches, which went through semi carbonic maceration before being aged in old oak for 9 months with the wine unfiltered and unfined before bottling. A light red with youthful hues, the nose gives dark cherry with some stem and iodine alongside cranberry fruit. The wine has generosity and tension with finely tuned acidity. Paired with drying, fine tannins, the piercing black cherry fruit that broadens on the mid palate, before being pulled back with impact of tart cranberry fruit. Excellent length to finish. 91 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front Gamay of the Macedon Ranges. I like what Lyons Will get up to. This is a good drink, straight up. Easy on the palate, bright in fruit flavour, leaning to the sour cherry and herbal spectrum with enough juiciness and crispness to tannin to shape things nicely. It’s fresh, it’s vivacious, it’s light and pretty, it hits the pleasure receptors as good gamay does. Young Guns of Wine This is super bright and lifted with sour cherry, plum skin, forest berries, mint and Christmas spice. It’s quite fine through the palate, sinewy with very bright acid, but it all makes sense as there’s an underlying richness and intensity here too. The flavour unfurls with time in the glass, revealing complex layers of sour-edged wild fruits, smoky spice and fragrant florals. That tension in the palate holds, but you can see it unlocking in interesting ways with more time in bottle. |
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2017 Gamay
94 Points - Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer
This is the first release from Lyons Will, and an exciting one for not only them but also the Macedon Ranges! The region has plenty of it’s burgundian stablemate of Pinot Noir, but to my knowledge this is the only commercial Gamay. Two thirds of the grapes were destemmed and cold soaked for 5 days, with the remaining whole bunches undergoing a semi-carbonic maceration prior to basket pressing and ageing in old oak for 10 months. The final wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. A pretty light red with some youthful purple hues. The nose gives violets, crunchy raspberry fruit and freshly tilled earth. A vibrant wine with a finely crafted line of tannin that enjoys cranberry like grip, in terms of fruit there is a continuation of the violets and raspberries with a taut edge that keeps you on your toes. The finish is layered with earth and red berry fruit, lingering tartness makes this a great accompaniment for food. An impressive release that is as pretty as it is primary. 90 Points - Andrew Graham, Oz Wine Review This Gamay is the first for Lyons Will, and I really like it. The Gamay is cropping at just 0.9t acre for this initial harvest, so no volume and very early days. But delicious. There’s blueberry and cherry fruit, the light and finely spicy palate that has all the purple Hubba Bubba berry exuberance of Beaujolais Nouveau, but with an extra tier of flavour. There’s a hint of undergrowth and a general brightness, a wine of freshness and vitality. I opened it and stuck it back in the fridge, and with a light chill this worked even better. Enjoyable, fun drinking light red. |