Tasted with Alex Gambal in Beaune, 08 December 2015.
Maison Alex Gambal
14 Boulevard Jules Ferry
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 22 75 81
www.alexgambal.com
Alex on 2014:
“I love the whites very, very much. From very early on, we thought them the best whites we ever made. The reds are fruity, balanced and delicious – wines that got ever better through elevage, some we extended a little, the first bottlings are virtually today. The rest probably in February to April.”
Alex on 2015:
“I haven’t tasted the whites yet, I prefer to do that in Spring, the reds, however, already tasted great at the Vent du Vin. The vintage will certainly be controversial. We started harvesting whites on the 29 August – nothing higher than 13.5, from the lucky bottles I’ve tasted, it could be 1949 or maybe 1959. Possibly there are higher acidities than we initially thought. The whites won’t be like 2003 but the reds will be the showcase.”
The wines…
Always a good selection here, and the wines I usually like, I like also in 2014. The reds are good, but the whites steal the show – super!
2014 Bourgogne Pinot Noir – Les Deux Papis
Bottled already this week.
Smells wide, nice, very red, very Côte de Beaune. Fresh, bright, incisive – very nice. Good freshness long and bright, not the fattest or most concentrated but really very tasty and moreish.
From domaine grapes, cultivated ‘Bio’ from Pietants.
Deeper, a little textured higher up. A little more depth, fine fresh acidity – lovely bright energetic flavour. Wide, post swallowing, with a melting flavour over the palate$$ bravo!
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Grands Picotins
Close to the Chorey border, domaine vines – more hit by hail in 14 than 13.
A deeper nose, hinting at texture, here is dark flavour, a bit of tannin (fine) but essentially a wine with depth and darker fruit flavour – nicely sweetly edged. Deliciously finishing with dark vibrant muscular fruit.
2014 Volnay
Les famines and Petites Piosots. Next year the Volnay cuvée will be domaine with some Petits Gamets and Robardelle ex Champy.
A nose that has a little vibration, not massively deep or wide but has a certain something. More lithe and fresh, more airy with much more high-toned fruit, a modestly present structure and fine acidity. A fresh but friendly wine, almost, indeed actually perfumed in the finish – very good.
2014 Beaune 1er Les Grèves
Depth of aroma but also high tones too. Grows a weight of aroma – becomes ever more interesting in the glass. Wide, fresh, cool fruit, an impressively growing width of complex, oak-inflected flavour with some textural drag from the tannin.
2014 Vosne-Romanée
A deep nose with a discreet reduction, opening in the glass with a suggestion of spice. A width of sweet flavour, an understated complexity, fine acidity and quite delicious. A good, long line of flavour, slowly mouth-watering.
2014 Chambolle-Musigny
An exchange of grapes for Puligny – both bio.
Also a discreet reduction, but there’s a fine silkiness of aroma here. Some reduction here too, but modest. A quite good texture and a fine line of mouth-watering flavour that melts over the palate as it goes. Really opening out in the finish – here it is particularly lovely.
A deep and comforting nose, no reduction. Fine textured, direct and mineral but with a subtle but really very fine and growing complexity – this is super. A more mineral but very enjoyable wine. Excellent! Really extra long…….
2014 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Here is more aromatic complexity, pretty and very inviting. More structure and more weight, a wide complexity, a bigger wine with some herb complexity too. Rounder but not finer than the Echanges in 2014…
Some La Justice plus a little En Champs
Wide, fine high tones a little more limited depth, but fresh, inviting aromatics. A little wider, more vibrant fruit and form, lovely complexity with out too much weight. A wine with super attitude. Lovely! A super finish too!
2014 Charmes-Chambertin
Ab grapes (agriculture biologique).
Bigger, deeper aromas. Large, round, faint gas. The flavours are mouth-watering with and accent of tannic dryness, but only that – very pretty mid-palate fruit but a serious wine too despite its drinkability. A more mineral finish than some but long… Very, very good.
The whites:
Mainly fruit from the Côte d’Or but a bit of Mercurey too. Bottled last week
Bright, vibrant, faintly pineapple. Starts direct but slowly widening and palate filling with fresh ripe fruit and a certain minerality that adds a saline twist in the finish. Very good!
From 2015 this will be all domaine.
Wider, more citrus, yellow and ripe. Fresh, wide with very pretty citrus complexity. Waves of flavour modestly lapping over the palate.
2014 Fixin (Blanc)
Mineral and complex – a lychee freshness – exotic but very agreeable. A more classic, savouryness to this wine in the mouth, quite impressive for the different dimensions of flavour. Good finish!
Not bottled.
A fresh nose, inviting too, despite more herb than fruit – slowly adds some mineral reflections too. Bright and wide with a fine depth and complexity – always a wine to buy here for me and no change this year – some agrume complexity in the mid-palate but no reduction. Simply lovely, meltingly complex wine…
2014 Puligny-Montrachet
Les Grandes Champs plus some Ruchots.
A bright core of fruit here – intense at the core. Bright and with a lovely, melting complexity. Widens plenty in the mid-palate lingering on a modest but very tasty mouth-watering finish. Lovely…
Domaine.
Fine, direct very pretty fresh fruit on the nose. An increase in sweetness but also weight and energy in tandem. Beautiful in the mid-palate and intense, direct and of clarity – bravo! This is 1er cru level this year.
2014 Chassagne-Montrachet
More discreet, tighter aromas – some depth but not so communicative. In the mouth this is rounder, well-balanced with a mouth-watering, slowly mounting intensity. Well-packaged with a fine clear line of flavour running into the finish. Very nice indeed.
2014 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Maltroie
A fresh and quite forward nose of classic Chassagne herb notes over a depth of tighter but riper fruit. Starts a little narrower but becomes ever wider and ever more intense. Modest starting, excellently finishing – a wine that just opens and opens – super!
2014 Bâtard-Montrachet
Fresh and clean nose of width – like a 2010. A supple wine, a wine that evolves in the mouth slowly releasing layers (waves) of flavour. Holds a wide line of finishing flavour, long into the finish. Understated vs many, less rich than many, but as long as the best. Fine!