I visited Doug Tunnell at Brick House Vineyards several times during this year’s harvest. The winery was always remarkably calm  - quite a  contrast to the boisterous blasts of rock music, clanking equipment and grinding forkloads at other wineries. That relaxed vibe is typical of my experience of visiting Doug over the years. Soft classical music, old wooden furniture and gentle light, a roll top desk, reading glasses perched on his nose, and a bemused expression on his face at my rather loud and discordant arrival – that’s how it goes at Brick House.

Brick House’s tasting room is just a step away from the winery. It’s more Doug’s private “hanging out” space than a formal tasting room. There’s a small kitchen, some comfortable overstuffed chairs, an old wooden dining table, and an office. One side is open to the barrels and tanks of the winery. On the other side, windows give a great view of the vineyard and the foothills in the distance.  I like the natural light, the old wood, the slightly scruffy, lived-in feeling. It’s the semi-private space of an interesting person.

Early this month we tasted several of the unreleased 2008 Brick House reds, all beauties.

Tasting the 08 Brick House Gamay noir at Doug’s dining table, the room was filled with the scent of new wine from the fermenters down the hall and it was quite cool.  The vineyards outside the windows were misty with drizzle – winter is beginning to arrive. The cold wine needed some warming up. Vigorous hand rubbing and clasping the glass tightly took the frosty edge off and let the big flavors show.

An elegant scent of dried rose petals and cherries wafted from the glass of the Gamay, even in the cold room. As Doug noted, the 2008 Gamay is as fully developed as Gamay gets. Black cherry dominates, unlike the 2007′s lighter, strawberry focus.

Flavors evolved in the glass as the wine warmed up and showed more intensity, interweaving black currant, rose petal, dried roses, sweet anise, and licorice with the dominant black cherry fruit flavor. A hint of sweet anise seed is present in every vintage of the Brick House Gamay noir -Doug calls it a characteristic of his vineyard site.

Now available to order, Doug’s Brick House Gamay noir 08 lives up to Food & Wine Magazine’s comment of a few years back. They called Doug’s Gamay “the greatest Gamay outside of Beaujolais”.

below, the porch of Doug’s tasting room

Doug makes a “Select” Pinot noir in some years. It is his “value” offering, made some years and not others. The Brick House 2008 “Select” Pinot noir is super-elegant and classy, with delicate rose and black cherry aromas. The flavors echo the scents – black cherry and fleshy raspberry provide a silky core of flavors. The finish merges a hint of fresh blackberry with cedar, rosemary, and sweet earth.

below, view from the tasting room, watching the guys heading out to pick blackberries