Dinner with Alex Gambal at Wine Watch

Burgundy for kings, champagne for duchesses, claret for gentlemen.
Anon French Proverb

In the past the great wines of Burgundy were reserved for the royalty.  And tonight you will be able to eat and drink like kings and queens for a shoemaker's pay.  We will be serving a three course meal along with all the current releases from one of the hottest names in Burgundy today, our good friend and fellow American- Alex Gambal.  

Dinner with Alex Gambal at Wine Watch
Saturday, February 27th
7pm

Alex Gambal has taken Burgundy by storm. He moved to Burgundy in the early 1990's to work for trail blazer Becky Wasserman, fell in love with the people, wines and lifestyle of the vigneron. This experience prompted him to open his own negociant firm in 1997. Tonight we will explore the world of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and the diversity of terroir that is the Cote De Beaune and the Cote de Nuits the golden slopes of Burgundy explained by the one, the only Alex Gambal. Chef Toni Lampasone will be making a special meal focusing on the peasant food of this region and a selection of authentic cheese to accompany the tasting wines. The fee for this tasting is $95 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.

2007 White Wines

2007 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet
Price: $57         Sale $50.16      Case $581
Quantity in Stock: 11

(88-90 Points)A wonderfully fresh nose of herb resin, citrus and underbrush hints are trimmed in a discreet application of wood influence that marries into detailed, punch and frank medium-bodied flavors that are bone dry on the focused and relatively powerful finish for a villages. Attractive if not elegant with ample character. Tasted: Jun 01, 2009 Drink: 2012+  Burghound Issue 35

2007 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet Maltroie
Price: $71.25    Sale $62.70      Case $727
Quantity in Stock: 11

(90-92 Points) Here the wood is a bit more obvious though by no means intrusive as the ripe aromas of citrus, pear, peach and resin oil hints lead to rich, full and sappy flavors that retain good delineation and like the Clos St. Jean, excellent length and fine depth on the lingering finish.  Tasted: Jul 01, 2009  Drink: 2013+ - Comments: Outstanding Burghound Issue 35

2007 Alex Gambal Puligny Montrachet
Price: $60         Sale $52.80      Case $612

(90 Points) Here the nose is a bit more elegant and higher-toned with classic Puligny aromas of very pure orchard fruit and acacia blossom notes trimmed in a deft touch of oak that slide gracefully into round and rich yet beautifully detailed medium-bodied flavors that possess fine mid-palate fat and are given a bit of lift by the subtle minerality that appears on the vibrant and zesty finish. Excellent quality for a villages level wine and this is recommended. Tasted: Jul 01, 2009  Drink: 2013+ - Comments: Outstanding Burghound Issue 35

2007 Alex Gambal Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru
Price: $142.50  Sale $125.40    Case $1454

(91-94 Points) Discreet oak influence sets off an expressive nose of white flower, green apple and obvious mineral notes that continue onto the gorgeously deep, broad and powerful flavors blessed with ample dry extract on the driving and palate staining finish. The energy and intensity here are something and in terms of style and character, this is textbook Corton-Charlemagne with the stuffing and structure to age well. In a word, terrific.  Tasted: Jul 01, 2009  Drink: 2015+ Burghound Issue 35

2007 Red Wines

2007 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Rouge Cuvee Les Doux Papis
Price: $27.00    Sale $23.76      Case $275
Quantity in Stock: 22

(85 Points) This is actually quite sophisticated for its level with a perfumed nose of spicy red berry fruit hints that merge into detailed, fresh and vibrant light to middle weight flavors where the only nit is a hint of finishing astringency that may round out given a year or two in bottle as the palate impression is certainly delicious. I would give this a year or two in bottle first. Tasted: Apr 01, 2009 Drink: 2011+ Burghound Issue 34

2007 Alex Gambal Volnay Santenots
Price: $63         Sale $55.44      Case $643

(88-91 Points) Not surprisingly, this is much more aromatically complex with ripe blue berry, plum and violet aromas introducing delicious, naturally sweet and layered medium-bodied flavors that possess good mid-palate concentration and lovely persistence on the textured finale.  Tasted: Apr 01, 2009  Drink: 2014+ Burghound Issue 34

2007 Alex Gambal Chambolle Musigny
Price: $60         Sale $52.80      Case $612

(87-89 Points) A high-toned nose that is very Chambolle in character with its airy, cool, elegant and wispy red berry fruit and wet stone aromas that give way to round, stylish and detailed flavors that also reflect a subtle minerality on the balanced, persistent and delineated finish. A lovely villages that should age well over the medium-term. Tasted: Apr 01, 2009  Drink: 2013+  Burghound Issue 34

2007 Alex Gambal Vosne Romanee Vielle Vignes
Price: $64.50    Sale $56.76      Case $658

(87-89 Points) Here the aromatic profile is completely different with a notably spicy, pure and ultra elegant dark berry fruit and earth suffused nose that complements perfectly the delicious and relatively concentrated flavors that are textured, velvety and mouth coating, all put into lovely relief by just the right amount of bright acidity. There is a slightly firmer tannic spine compared to the Chambolle but both of these are very attractive villages level wines. Tasted: Apr 01, 2009  Drink: 2014+ Burghound Issue 34

2007 Alex Gambal Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Price: $172.50  Sale $151.80    Case $1760

This is relatively elegant for a young Clos de Vougeot with an attractive mèlange of red and blue berries, earth, underbrush and a hint of the sauvage that also permeates the big, rich and serious full-bodied flavors that possess good mid-palate dry extract that buffers the otherwise firm tannins on the impressively long and youthfully austere finish where a touch of wood is also evident. A classically styled example that should age well.  Tasted: Apr 01, 2009 Score: 89-92 Drink: 2015+ Burghound Issue 34

Notes from The Burghound:  “Alex Gambal described the difficulty with the 2007 vintage as one where "the trick was to obtain sufficiently high phenolic ripeness. While the solution to the problem sounds obvious in that you just wait patiently, that didn't work in 2007 because the vegetative cycle was finished and thus there was no more phenolic maturity to be coaxed from the vines. We waited as long as could until we were convinced that there was nothing more to be had except for a loss of acidity and began picking on the 31st of August. The good news is that if you were particularly strict in your sorting work in eliminating any substandard fruit, there was ripe fruit to be had, just not a lot of it. Sugars were reasonably good and we did a very gentle extraction so as to avoid having any astringent tannins. There was a lot of malic acid so the malos were long and slow and we noticed that the reds picked up a lot of body by feeding off of their fine lees. Indeed I would go so far as to say that we were very pleasantly surprised by the amount of fat they picked up during their élevage. Overall, the '07s reds are very pretty, very Burgundian and people will like them as they will be accessible young and should drink well all their lives as the tannins are not forbidding or stern." As I noted last year, Gambal has again augmented his vineyard holdings and the total is now 2.5 ha, or a bit more than 6 acres.”

Menu

Assortment of Cheeses

pauchouse of river fish

Coq au Vin

Older Vintage Wines Available from Alex Gambal:

2001 Alex Gambal Echezeaux Grand Cru
Price: $93         Sale $81.84     
(Quantity in Stock: 3)

Wine Watch Review: Still a bit austere on the nose but very classy with an array of oriental spice, light smoke and fresh earth aromas to the black cherry black raspberry fruit.  Firm and well built on the palate, needs a bit of time to open up but shows its pedigree on the finish, stylish and elegant this once only give you a glimpse of things to come, we recommend you cellar this wine for 3-5 more years before consuming.  EXCELLENT +

2004 Alex Gambal Vosne Romanee Vielles Vignes
Price: $52.50    Sale $46.20
(Quantity in Stock: 2)

Wine Watch Review: Alex’s 2004 comes from the same vineyard sites as in 2003; old vine Vosne next to Clos Vougeot and Grand Echezeaux. 25-30% new oak. From vines planted in the 40s and 50s.  Lovely aromas of fresh flowers black and red cherry fruit with a good hand of fresh earth and lightly toasted oak spice.  Smooth and silky on the tongue with fine tannins, excellent structure and depth of fruit with firm acidity through the finish.  Finish 40+. Only 112 cases of this wine were produced.  EXCELLENT +

2004 Alex Gambal Echezeaux Grand Cru
Price: $103.50 Sale $91.08
(Quantity in Stock: 15)
 
(89-92 Points) A wonderfully spicy black pinot fruit nose is framed by a background touch of wood and gives way to deep and complex flavors that are impressively rich, sweet and intense yet retain a fine sense of detail on the long, mouth coating and powerful finish. This is not a huge wine but it is unusually refined by the typical standards of the appellation and should drink well young but repay admirably mid-term cellar time. Tasted: Apr 01, 2006  Drink: 2009+ Burghound Issue 22

2006 Alex Gambal Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Price: $135.00 
(Quantity in Stock: 19)

(89-91 Points) This too is quite expressive, indeed particularly so for a young Clos de Vougeot, offering up earthy and slightly sauvage red and dark berry fruit aromas that complement perfectly the delicious, intense, serious and moderately structured medium full flavors that finish with both excellent persistence and the classic youthful austerity. I particularly like the purity here. Tasted: Apr 01, 2008  Drink: 2014+ Burghound Issue 30

2006 Alex Gambal Chambolle Musigny      
Price: $60.00    Sale $52.80
(Quantity in Stock: 27)

This was put in bottle before harvest and is already delightful to drink. Perfumed with dense black cherry fruit; yummy. Give it 3-4 years and you will have the Chambolle that we all love so much. 25% new oak.  100 cases. 

2006 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Rouge Cuvee Les Doux Papis      
Price: $29.25    Sale $25.74     
(Quantity in Stock: 10)

Alex's first full year tending his own vines produced a very concentrated Pinot. Their yields were ridiculously low due to their pruning and the harvest. The wine is rich, deep in color and an intense Pinot. The vines genetics show in this wine; here is a "Petite Volnay" reflecting its vineyards. 580 cases.

2006 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet La Maltroie 1er Cru 
Price: $75.00   Sale $66
(Quantity in Stock: 11)

As the Clos St. Jean typically is open and inviting this year the Maltroie is concentrated, reserved but with 06’s exuberant nose. Maltroie’s mineral quality (due to iron ore stones in the soil) makes the wine tight and elegant like a suspension bridge cable. 100 cases.

2006 Alex Gambal Chassagne Montrachet            
Price: $63   Sale $55.44
(Quantity in Stock: 20)

As in years past Alex's Chassagne village comes from two parcels of 65/35 year old vines (below Criots and Champs Gains). There is a wonderful exuberance and floral quality this year as well as its inherent power. Gambal used 20% new oak and he made 240 cases.

Burgundy today is a paradox, one of the planets greatest terroirs for growing pinot noir and chardonnay and yet so many of the wines from this region remain average, overpriced examples of these two varietals.  I visited this region in March of 2008 for the Grand Jours de Bourgogne, a tasting that encompasses the entire region of Burgundy, with each village hosting a tasting highlighting their appellations wines with almost all of the major properties showing their wines.  The Corton tasting included a whopping 150 wines with equally as many vintners.  This tasting is one event that sums up the opening statement of this offering.  This is by far the largest grand cru in Burgundy and of the 150 different wines that have Grand Cru status only about 1/3 of the wines were grand- leaving the latter 2/3 of the wines shown at this event just grandly overpriced. 

Much of the dilemma that plagues Burgundy and causes the mass amount of mediocrity is that many of the new generation of producers are not enthusiastic about making wine.  They also have come to the realization they can sell everything they produce without working very hard.  This is not to say that there are a lack of passionate producers that worked hard to be the best regardless of profit, but that for the quality of the vineyards here there seems to be an alarming amount of average wines.  One of the things that add to the confusion here is that there are more small subdivided vineyard plots here probably than anywhere else in France or the world for that matter.  If you look at the most famous wine region of France and compare Burgundy to it you will find a few interesting facts.  Each time Burgundy produces one bottle of red wine, Bordeaux produces nine. For white wines, the ratio is one for two. Furthermore, Grand Crus in Burgundy only represent 3% of the total production!  In a year, the prestigious Château d'Yquem may produce around 8.000 cases whereas the Marquis de Laguiche (the largest owner of the prized Le Montrachet vineyard) will only produce 700 cases of Le Montrachet. 

Alex Gambal, one of the newcomers to this area has made one of the biggest impacts on the quality and the marketability of this region.  Alex has brought the American work ethic and his enthusiastic approach to marketing his wines and during the Grand Jours de Bourgogne he did what very few vintners do for the influx of Burgundy fans, he opened up his cuverie to his patrons so they could taste his newest releases in a relaxed and comfortable environment.  Most other producers only show their wines at the big tastings hosted by each appellation.

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 of 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.  Only a few short years later he left Wasserman and 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.  Alex 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. 

The philosophy of Alex Gambal and of Fabrice Laronze, head winemaker, is a respect for the character of each appellation and vintage.  In addition, they believe 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).