Alex Gambal Burgundy BBQ at Wine Watch

 “Boys should abstain from all use of wine until their eighteenth year, for it is wrong to add fire to fire.”

Plato
Philosopher

Good thing we are all men here at Wine Watch and we like to stoke the fire here.  You don't get a hangover if you keep on drinking and that is what we intend on doing.

Our buddy Alex Gambal is in town and we have the newest releases from the 2012 vintage to explore along with a French cheese burger and more.

Born in Washington D.C., Alex Gambal discovered Burgundy in 1993, along with a passion for its wine.  He had caught the wine bug so bad that he decided to move the entire family to Burgundy to work with one o the leading U.S. importers of Burgundy Becky Wasserman.  It was not long before he was enrolled in the famous wine school in Beaune studying about winemaking and viticulture and he created a négociant-éleveur business in 1997.

During the first year, Alex began by purchasing 1996-vintage finished wines and by 1998 had already established relationships with local growers, and began to vinify the wine, beginning with grapes and must. In 2005, Maison Alex Gambal vinified 95% of the wines that will be bottled and they now own vineyards in the Bourgogne appellation that account for about 50% of the production of their two entry level wines; the Bourgogne Rouge and the Bourgogne Blanc.  Recently Alex became the first American ever to own Grand cru vineyards in Burgundy with his purchase of .92 of an acre of Batard Montrachet vineyards in 2011.

The philosophy of Alex Gambal is a respect for the character of each appellation and vintage.  In addition, Alex believes that good winemaking, although imperative, should be secondary to the quality of the grapes which result from relationships and a sharing of ideas with the growers.  Achieving this goal requires constant attention to the individual vineyards including pruning techniques, green harvesting, vine maturity, etc. (certain vineyard sites are even picked by our own small team of vendangeurs).

Tonight we have a special night planned with Alex that includes every wine that has just arrived from the outstanding 2012 vintage.  Wine Watch catering's Toni Lampasone will be making a French inspired BBQ menu for this evening and this event will take place in the courtyard and is limited to 50 Burgundy lovers.  The fee for this tasting is $95 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Alex Gambal Burgundy BBQ at Wine Watch
Saturday, February 21, 2015
7:00 PM

The 2012 vintage wines from Alex Gambal

White Wines

2012 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Chardonnay   
Price: $24.75     Sale $21.78     Case $253

“An exceptionally fresh and pretty nose features notes of lemon peel on the white and yellow orchard fruit scents. There is good volume and plenty of mid-palate fat to the generous and fleshy mid-weight flavors that display fine length and reasonably good depth as well for a wine at this level. An excellent all-around house white.”  Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Saint Aubin "Les Murgers"   
Price: $48.00     Sale $42.24     Case $490

A cool and reserved nose is comprised of elegant and pure white peach, floral and citrus notes. There is equally good purity to the refined and mineral-inflected medium-bodied flavors that possess a fleshy mouth feel before culminating in a saline, clean and attractively persistent and well-balanced finish. This too should be accessible and enjoyable young.” Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet   
Price: $57.00     Sale $50.16     Case $582

 The potentially outstanding Chassagne-Montrachet is a blend of three parcels from around the appellation: En l'Ormeau, Les Essarts and Blanchots Dessous. Honey, pastry, grapefruit and hints of lime blossom lead off, and this stays long and mouthfilling (88–91)  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet "Maltroie"   
Price: $72.00     Sale $63.36    Case $735

The Chassagne-Montrachet La Maltroie boasted mineral and iron overtones, aligned with an intense, concentrated frame, with fine acidity and a lingering aftertaste (91–94) Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Puligny Montrachet    
Price: $61.50     Sale $54.12     Case $628

Les Grands Champs and Les Petit Grands Champs are where the holdings of 60-year-old vines come from for the Puligny-Montrachet. It shows a terrific nose of ripe peach, spice, hazelnut and lime. On the palate, it starts out rich, then finishes racy and long, echoing lime. (88–91).  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru   
Price: $135.00     Sale $118.80     Case $1377

The Corton-Charlemagne (just two-thirds of normal production in 2012) is different, more reserved and very focused, delivering citrus and stone notes with fine intensity, yet almost racy and airy on the long finish (92–95)  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Batard Montrachet Grand Cru
Price: $357.00     Sale $314.16     Case $3642

Gambal and his team made one-and-a-half barrels of Bâtard-Montrachet instead of the usual three from his parcels purchased along with the Les Enseignères. It's sleek with hazelnut, toast, pastry, floral, peach and citrus flavors. Almost more Chevalier than Bâtard, it unravels to a very long, smoky finish (91–94)  Wine Spectator

Red Wines

2012 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Pinot Noir "Deux Papis"   
Price: $30.00     Sale $26.40     Case $306

A ripe and fresh nose displays liqueur-like aromas of red and dark berry fruit cut with plenty of earthiness. There is good vibrancy and lovely detail to the rustic but concentrated mid-weight flavors that possess reasonably good depth and length. This should drink well young but should also offer a year or two of upside development potential.”  Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Chorey Les Beaune   
Price: $42.00     Sale $36.96     Case $429

 Here too there is enough reduction present to render evaluating the nose difficult. I like the sense of energy to the generous and very fleshy flavors that terminate in a mildly rustic finish that is balanced, frank and honest. This would make a good choice for an everyday house red as it should drink well early but improve over the next few years as well.  88 Points - Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Savigny Les Beaune1er Cru   
Price: $46.50     Sale $40.92     Case $475

 The Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (from tank) is a blend of Aux Guettes, Aux Gravains and Les Lavières. Its ripe, sweet currant and strawberry notes play off the silky texture and juicy, rich profile (88–91)  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Beaune "Les Greves"   
Price: $52.50     Sale $46.20     Case $536

Beaune Grèves is on the austere side, with reticent cherry flavor yet great texture of silk, all very refined, ending in a mineral finish (89–92)  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Chambolle Musigny   
Price: $75.00     Sale $66.00     Case $765

 This possesses a step up in aromatic elegance with its relatively high-toned nose of raspberry, cherry, rose petal and spiced herbal tea scents. There is a lovely sense of verve and detail to the lightly mineral-inflected flavors that possess a supple mid-palate contrasted against a moderately firm and mouth coating finish. Like many of these 2012s this should drink well young but should reward 4 to 7 years of cellar time too.  89 Points - Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Chambolle Musigny "Les Charmes"   
Price: $142.50     Sale $125.40     Case $1454

Gambal always seems to do well with this wine and 2012 is no exception. The nose opens with a slight bit of reduction but the underlying fruit clearly seems ripe. This sense of ripeness is corroborated by the phenolically mature tannins shaping the lacy and seductively textured medium-bodied flavors that possess good volume and balance on the palate coating finish. A classic Charmes.  92 Points - Burghound

2012 Alex Gambal Gevrey Chambertin   
Price: $72.00     Sale $63.36     Case $735

The Gevrey-Chambertin, full of rich, cherry, tobacco and earth flavors on a dense, firm frame and long finish (89–92)  Wine Spectator

2012 Alex Gambal Vosne Romanee Vielles Vignes   
Price: $76.50     Sale $67.32     Case $781

Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes (from barrel), whose cherry and currant notes are pure and fresh. Spice elements work their way into the mix and this shows lovely balance and fine length (88–91)  Wine Spectator

Menu:

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie:

Brie, Epoisses, Triple Creme, Foie Gras Terrine, Pork Belly, chicken Sausage, Cured hard Salami

Pomme Frites with citron and boule de Lille

Epoisse Cheese Burgers with brioche buns

Traditional Burgundian Stews:  Beef Bourguignon and Pauchouse of River Fish

Here are Alex's notes on the 2012 vintage:

Before there is either a great deal of hand wringing, PR spin, negative and positive hyperbole or downright false statements about 2012 let me give you a summary of what happened this growing season. In short it was a very challenging and exhausting period for all growers and winemakers in the Cote D'Or (and a good part of France). We were challenged with practically every malady and climatic challenge but in the end it appears we have some wonderful wines in our barrels. This is to say despite all the challenges at harvest the grapes we harvested had little to no rot, the wines have good to terrific analytic balance but there is very little of it. In some cases appellations have not been this low in nearly seventy years.

Highlights/Low Moments:

April: cold weather and frost.
May: Mildou
June: poor flowering
June & August: 3 serious hail storms
July: Sunburnt grapes
August-September: Odium
September: Healthy grapes but tiny yields

Whether you were bio or conventional your were challenged at every turn with a record number of vine treatments (and costs) for the growing season.

In order to be fair I have looked at my notes to give you the high/low lights of the growing season. The points marked with stars are moments of particular importance.

March:

The winter was not particularly severe and we had another spectacular warm March that made us think of 2011 where at one moment we were 6-8 weeks ahead. Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne, the week of March 19th, were under spring skies. We even had friends up on Sunday the 25th for lunch for a barbecue; it was so wonderfully warm we all took afternoon siestas in the sun.

April:

Wintery mix is the way to imagine April. Cold, windy, rainy with several days near freezing slowed the growth of the vines considerably and in retrospect caused the loss of many of the embryonic buds. The cold and rain also jump started mildou in the vines.
* April 16-17: frost kills off young buds.

May:

Rain off and on the whole month and very few "glorious May days." It was often difficult to get in the vines because of the rain and mildou is rampant. It was very difficult to keep up much less get ahead of the mildou cycle because of the cold wet weather. There was some frost after the "St. Glace" (Ice Saint) which is around the 12-14 of May. The old timers say that if you get past St. Glace the threat of frost damage is over; not this year. Around the 19th frost hit lower areas in Chassagne and Puligny to name a few. Vignerons with sixty years of experience told me that had never see this before.

June:

June 1 and 2 we have spectacular sunny warm days. At my birthday party with Francois Rocault (55+55) many of our vigneron friends were bemoaning the short cycle for treating the vines, their inability to keep up and often the problem of tractors that were broken down because of overuse (already).

Here are a few details:

* June 6: hail in Savigny les Beaune and parts of Chorey les Beaune.
June 7: In order to catch up my team treats all of our 3.5 hectares in the day with portable (backpack) sprayers.

June 12: Tour of vines: Savigny has damage but before flowering, branches bruised from the hail. Some hail damage in Chassagne.

* June 13: 10c / 50 f at my home at 8AM. Cold rainy on and off for 10-12 days; lousy flowering = colure and millerandage, "hens and chickens."

* June 14: Mildou in check but just barely. A terrific parcel of Bourgogne Pinot Noir, more than one hectare, has been totally eaten up by mildou.
* June 30: We are at the Elegance de Volnay a celebration of Volnay and its wines with most of the Volnay producers. at 8:30 PM a severe storm pouches on us as we race to the tent for dinner. Soon what sounds as though it is raining acorns taps the tent. Hail the size of moth balls ravage the vines from northern Meursault to Pommard; Volnay and Pommard lose 70-100% of their harvest.

July:

Most of the month is either humid, with some sun but not summer.

July 7: 13c / 55 f at 8:00 at in Orches in the Haute Cote; 22c / 72 f maximum during the day. My air conditioning guy comes in for the annual maintenance; rather droll. In the AM with a strong breeze in Puligny it feels like October!
July 17: the weather gets better, a bit of summer. Tour of various parcels I have contracts for; some ok, others not great still others a disaster. Mildou is ever present

* July 23-30: This week is very hot; too hot. We and many others have pulled leaves to get better air circulation (to limit the mildou) but this allows the infant grapes to be exposed directly to the sun before that have turned color and have thicker skins. In essence the grapes are sunburnt (echaudage) and they will dry up and fall off the stems.

August:

* August 1: I go down to the cellar for a tasting and at 7:00 PM when I come up it is dark; I think, "strange is it night already." A viscous storm descends that reminds me of The Wizard of Oz, buckets of rain and I am sure hail somewhere; 30 mm (1.2 inches) of rain in 40 minutes. This, our third hail storm, hits Chassagne (again) and Puligny. I lose 60-70% of my two parcels of Puligny and 15-20% of my Batard.

As August continues we say au revoir to mildou and bonjour to odium. The weather is a mixed bag of nice clear days, hot humid days and some cool days (perfect for odium) .

The grapes are turning color and ripening quickly because there are so few of them.

August 24:" "Thought it would clear up but it rains buckets of rain at 1:00-1:45...and again buckets at 15:00 but at least no hail."

August 25: We are at a collective 40th birthday party for friends in Chassagne. Some showers early but clears up and it becomes breezy; it feels like fall.

Some comments from a "Who's Who" of Chassagne who were at the party;

* "I am over it (j'en ai marre), I have never seen it like this."

* "All we have not had is rot."

* "I just want to get this harvest over and forgot about the year." (This I heard repeatedly.)

September:

The first 10 days are beautiful clear wonderful weather. Our first prelevements show fairly ripe red grapes with the Chorey already at 10.4. We do not expect to start for another 10-12 days. The white grapes are ripening more slowly.

September 11-17: "Rain and then nice days; one good and then one overcast or with showers; "so what's new?"

September 18: we start slowly with our parcel of Chassagne L'Ormeau. Should make 3 barrels, last year 2 barrels, this year we picked it with 6 of us in just 1 1/2 hours; 1 barrel!

September 19-29: we picked our own vines of 3.5 hectares plus another 6.5 of our various suppliers.

September 26: starts raining at 3 AM and then comes down in sheets at 5 AM. We call off picking as does virtually every other domaine. We resume the 28th in with think mud everywhere in trench warfare like conditions; I can only imagine what it was like in WWI.

Here are some general observations and now confirmed my many other vignerons.

* There was no rot and very little triage. The one thing we were most afraid of at harvest was rot and there was virtually none. What we harvested was clean, concentrated, ripe but there were very few grapes.

* The skins of the grapes were thick resulting in good colors but proportionally very little juice in proportion to the pulp.

* Thus the weight of the grapes were similar to 2011 in that it took more kilos to make the equilivant volume of wine as in say 2009.

* All of the Cote D'Or was affected by the severe climatic conditions. The sole difference is that the Cote de Nuits did not have the severity of the hail as the Cote de Beaune.

* In the Volnay and Pommard 1er Cru vineyards yields are as low as 0-5-8 hectoliters. In other words virtually nothing.

* If there was a rule for the year there was none. A very few areas had lower than normal yields while others were down a great deal. Some examples Pinot yields:

Savigny Village: 40 hl/ha
Savigny 1er Cru: down 50-70%
Beaune 1er Cru: down 30-50%
Chambolle: correct
Chambolle 1er Cru: correct
Clos Vougeot: down 30-50-60%

When one looks at how close Clos Vougeot and Chambolle are and the differences in their yields it makes one wonder what Mother Nature was up to.

* Yields on the whites were down an additional factor than the reds because of the hail.

Older Vintage Alex Gambal Wines in the store:

2007 Alex Gambal Fixin
Price: $26.25    Your Price: $23.10
Quantity in Stock: 6

2005 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Chardonnay Cuvee Prestige
Price: $26.25    Your Price: $23.10
Quantity in Stock: 21

2011 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Chardonnay
Price: $25.50    Your Price: $22.44
Quantity in Stock: 3

Our Bourgogne Chardonnay now comes only from our parcel in Volnay and bio grapes that we harvest in Puligny. The Bourgogne has a wonderful balance between the vintage's acidity and the inherent richness of Puligny and Volnay.  As usual we vinified the wine in 15% new oak and we made ~ 750 cases.

2011 Alex Gambal St. Aubin Les Murgers
Price: $46.50    Your Price: $40.92
Quantity in Stock: 30

No matter how difficult the growing season, albeit with much lower yields than normal, this terroir shows the greatness of chardonnay in Burgundy. The flint and "hot rock" quality of this vineyard bursts from the glass. We made 300 cases in 20% new oak.

2011 Alex Gambal Puligny Montrachet
Price: $58.50    Your Price: $51.48
Quantity in Stock: 12

The fourth year from our vineyard of 60 year old vines we are finding that our bio practices are producing a more and more intense and pure wine of the lemon lime zest that is Puligny. (Too often it fails in this regard due to yields too high.) We made 200 cases with 20% new oak.

2011 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Pinot Noir "Deux Papis"
Price: $29.25    Your Price: $25.74
Quantity in Stock: 12

Dark red fruits is the theme for our Bourgogne.  There is an amazing intensity for a "simple" bourgogne. When yields are low I am willing to put Bourgogne in the ring with wines form all over the world no matter what the reputation or pedigree. We used 20% new oak and it was bottled in September 2012 and we made 625 cases.

2011 Alex Gambal Chorey Les Beaune
Price: $40.50    Your Price: $35.64
Quantity in Stock: 8

Our love affair with Chorey continues. The fruit is a combination of 2009 and 2010; darker and rich red fruits with good acidity. Chorey is the perfect everyday village level Burgundy. 150 cases in 20% new oak barrels.

2011 Alex Gambal Savigny Les Beaune "Les Guettes"
Price: $46.50    Your Price: $40.92
Quantity in Stock: 5

wonderful deep red fruits that always come from this vineyard. One of the first wines I ever made in 1996 Aux Guettes has a delicious mouth feel, long finish and is the poster child of Pinot Noir.

2011 Alex Gambal Gevrey Chambertin Vieille Vignes
Price: $69.00    Your Price: $60.72
Quantity in Stock: 5

There are wonderful deep black fruits with Gevrey's power but surprisingly silky tannins from the lieu dits on the middle slope of En Dérée and En Champ. Only 50 cases and 50% new oak.

2011 Alex Gambal Chambolle Musigny
Price: $69.00    Your Price: $60.72
Quantity in Stock: 11

A pretty red, firm and solidly structured, boasting floral, wild berry and cherry aromas and flavors. Stays juicy and graceful through the long finish. Best from 2016 through 2026. 75 cases made. –BS  Wine Spectator Issue: Jun 30, 2014

2008 Alex Gambal Vosne Romanee Vielles Vignes (Magnum)
Price: $126.00    Your Price: $110.88
Quantity in Stock: 6

Made from grapes harvested from the AOC village Lieu dits of Au-dessus de la Riviere and Vigneux.

(86-88 Points) A lightly spiced cool red berry fruit nose introduces delicious, round and admirably pure flavors that possess a lovely sense of underlying tension, all wrapped in a finish where the structural elements also seem to be right at the limit of sufficient phenolic ripeness though again, this impression is undoubtedly exacerbated by the presence of ample amounts of carbon dioxide. Tasted: Apr 18, 2010 Drink: 2014+ Burghound Issue 38

2010 Alex Gambal Clos Vougeot
Price: $154.50    Your Price: $135.96
Quantity in Stock: 9

From a parcel in the "Quartier de Marei Haut" we were able to vinify Clos Vougeot in "our style." This is to say with an elegance and class that sometimes is wanting in the Clos. Dark black cherry fruit along with a Chambolle like silkiness and we have a Clos Vougeot that is a cross between Grands Echezeaux and Musigny. We made 112 cases in 55% new oak.

2011 Alex Gambal Clos Vougeot
Price: $168.00    Your Price: $147.84
Quantity in Stock: 5

From a parcel in the "Quartier de Marei Haut" we were again able to vinify Clos Vougeot in "our style." This is to say with an elegance and class that sometimes is wanting in the Clos. These were the best grapes we harvested in 2011 were from this parcel; no tri, no rot, really quite extraordinary. We made 112 cases in 55% new oak.