13th Street Winery’s newly released Gamay has a fresh new look and might just be the bottle that gets you through that strange little season between patio weather and sweater weather.
Ready to try it? Find 13th Street Winery Gamay at the LCBO for under $20.
There’s a weird stretch every year when your calendar says fall, your outfit still says summer and your dinner plans could genuinely go either way. You want red wine, but you’re not emotionally prepared for Cabernet season.
This is your Gamay moment. And if Gamay isn’t already in your regular wine rotation, we need to fix that. The newly released 13th Street Winery Gamay arrives with a fresh new label and, frankly, excellent timing. It’s the kind of red that makes sense when you’re squeezing in one last patio dinner, but still works a few weeks later when the sweaters come out and suddenly you’re roasting everything for dinner. Even better, you can find it at the LCBO for under $20, making it a very easy bottle to add to your end-of-summer rotation.
Bright fruit, freshness, lighter tannins and a savoury edge make Gamay one of those rare reds that can move between seasons without feeling out of place. Think of it as the wine equivalent of transitional dressing.
Okay, But Why Gamay?
Here’s the wine nerd part, and I promise to keep it brief.
Gamay naturally gives us a lot of what people seem to want from red wine right now: juicy fruit, bright acidity, lighter tannins and serious drinkability. It can be expressive without being heavy and interesting without demanding your complete attention.
And in Niagara, Gamay gets particularly exciting. The grape is capable of holding onto the acidity responsible for all that freshness, giving Ontario producers a chance to make reds that feel vibrant, juicy and incredibly food-friendly.
Translation? This isn’t just the lighter red you grab because you don’t know what else to order. Gamay deserves some main-character energy.
So, What Does It Actually Taste Like?
This is where Gamay gets fun. 13th Street’s style leans into the freshness that makes this grape so easy to love. Think juicy red fruit, raspberry, sour cherry and plum, with pepper, fresh herbs and a little stony minerality underneath. The tannins stay light, while bright acidity keeps everything feeling fresh. There’s plenty happening in the glass, but you don’t need to sit there analyzing it.
That freshness is exactly why I love Gamay at this time of year. It still feels bright enough for a warm September afternoon, but those earthy, peppery and herbal notes feel right at home once mushrooms, roasted vegetables and all the flavours of fall start creeping back onto the table.
And before you tell me you don’t drink red wine when it’s warm, put the bottle in the fridge for 20 minutes and then we can talk. A slight chill is one of the best things you can do with a lighter red like Gamay. You’re not trying to make it ice cold. You just want to bring the temperature down enough to make the fruit feel brighter and the wine even more refreshing. Consider this your permission to put red wine in the fridge.
Now, What Are We Eating?
This is where Gamay really earns its place in the group chat. Pizza, charcuterie, burgers, mushrooms, roast chicken, pasta, grilled vegetables, beets and goat cheese can all find a place beside a bottle of Gamay. Its lively acidity and relatively gentle tannins make it incredibly food-friendly because instead of overpowering dinner, it tends to play nicely with whatever else is happening on the table.
That also means you don’t need to save this bottle for the perfect pairing. Bring it to the final backyard pizza night of summer, open it for a September dinner with friends or drink it with the random Tuesday-night pasta you made because there was absolutely no chance you were leaving the house again. Wine is allowed to be this easy.
And Can We Talk About the New Label?
Because she got a makeover. The new release comes dressed in a completely refreshed label with a muted blue-grey palette, graphic vineyard-inspired lines and a clean, contemporary feel. And while we’re absolutely supposed to say that what’s inside the bottle matters more than what’s outside, we also live in the real world. Sometimes you want the bottle sitting on your dinner table to look good too, and this one does.
More importantly, the new look feels right for a wine that deserves a new generation of drinkers. Gamay doesn’t need to be the wine nerd’s secret handshake anymore. If you love Pinot Noir, this is a grape worth getting to know. If you usually avoid reds because they feel too heavy, Gamay might change your mind. And if you’re already drinking Ontario Gamay, congratulations, you’re ahead of the group chat.
The final days of summer don’t need a dramatic goodbye. Sometimes you just need a slightly chilled bottle of Niagara Gamay, something good to eat and permission to stay outside for one more night.
13th Street Winery Gamay is made in Niagara, Ontario, and available at the LCBO for under $20.
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