ALEX GAMBAL

Harvest 2010

Alex Gambal — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:00:22 +0000

Chers Amis,

Yes I am alive and well and contrary to what you might have hear we have had an EXCELLENT harvest. The upper case is on purpose.

That said for the first time in a long time I had no time to think about writing notes in a timely fashion due both internal and external pressures. Let me give you a quick synopsis and bullet points of the season and why I am finally having a chance to catch my breath.

* The first grapes arrived on September 21 and the last grapes came in on Friday, October 1. In between vineyards that are normally picked first were picked last and every combination in between. For example we picked a parcel of Bourgogne Chardonnay in Puligny on September 30 and October 1 as well as our Fixin on the same days. Normally the Bourgogne is first and the Fixin is last. Both vineyards had normal yields, no rot and golden berries.

* We have NEVER brought in more grapes in so short a time as we did on September 21-22.

* Yields are way down; both in the Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune and it is not uncommon by as much as 50%. In the Cote de Beaune the whites were down 20-50% (our Maltroie a bit more than 2 barrels, last year 4 barrels) although there are parcels that had full yields. I was told that a very renowned grower in Volnay who could make 44 barrels from his vineyards, and normally makes 36-37 made perhaps 19!

* A very good winemaker in Pommard that makes Corton Bressands last year made +6 barrels = 105 cases of grapes. This year there were just 31 cases!! = ~ 2 barrels. This is not made up and no exaggeration.

* We were afraid of rot but overall this was not as serious problem as we have had in the past. Yes there was rot but much less than we anticipated. We did clean up the fruit but the rot was at times under the levels of even 2006. It is critically important to remember that Burgundy is rarely consistent. The quality of the fruit can vary form village to village, parcel to parcel. This is the primordial rule of 2010 ESPECIALLY if the grapes were clonal; i.e. big heavy bunches from SO4 and pinot droit versus small bunches from Pinot fin/tordu plants selection massale with small aerated bunches. In the later case one had magnificent grapes albeit at very low yields due to their low weight and quantity.

* Here are my REAL yields on the parcels we own.

Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvee Les Deux Papis: 4 parcels: 24 HL/HA

Puligny Montrachet: 39 HL/HA

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Las Maltroie: 30 HL/HA

* All of a sudden large and small negociants (especially the small) are asking where can I find my supplies for the year?

* Will the prices “flambe”? Most likely but how much remains to be seen. In any case there will very little 2010 available in 2012.

* It is clear everyone, and I mean everyone overestimated their crop. We all knew that the crop would be lower but no one ever expected this. The mistake is that we looked at the number of bunches and not their weight. Thus not only were the number of bunches reduced but their weight, aka liquid was much less than expected (the skins were thick.) What is interesting is that despite some serious rain we did not get the liquid as we would have logically thought.

* The flowering in June occurred in cold miserable weather leading to a lousy fruit set (this was the major reason why the crop was lower).

* The winter was terribly cold for us and it was especially cold in December before the plants had a chance to have their sap fully descend and go dormant. Thus there was a vine killing cold on the night of December 21, 2009 and this also could have hurt the embryonic buds of 2010.

* Harvest usually follows flowering by 100-105 days putting it at the end of September to the beginning of October. This said there were parcels such as the Bourgogne Chardonnay and Fixin as notes above that flowered later in excellent weather and thus had a full crop.

July was very hot so we caught up but then lost the advantage in August and thus everyone was looking at a September 23-24th start but…..

…… Around 5 PM on Sunday, September 12 a violent thunderstorm along with hail came up from the Cote Chalonnais dumping a great deal of water on the southern part of the Cote de Beaune. This included hail over parts of Santenay. (It is VERY unusual if not unprecedented to have hail this late in the season.) Along with the brief but albeit intense storm was thunder and lightening. This was a wild card that threw us for a real loop. Late in the season thunder can cause the white grapes to turn because their skins are less thick then the pinot and they can burst or break causing rot. (This happened in 2006 on a Friday and by Sunday some parcels were turning forcing everyone to scramble to pick.) This year because the grapes were less advanced it never occurred to me (and I suspect others) that this phenomenon would happen. In brief it did affect the grapes catching many growers by surprise and forcing everyone to move forward their picking date.

Now…… the theory of advancing and the reality of advancing are two different issues. When one has planned for a certain date for months it is hard to get ones pickers and well as all of ones logistics cranked up over night yet this is what we had to do.

* The fermentations went very well; actually quite easily after all the hassles of the growing season and the harvest. The vinifications were a bit bit shorter than normal; on average 10-12 days after 6-7 days of a pre fermentation but overall about as long a time in cuve until they were put in barrel. In other words nothing dramatic.

* The colors are amazing; very dark and the wines are well balanced between the tartric and malic acids. The wines taste good but it is a “winemaker’s year.” Sugars are lower than last year and most people will chaptalize at least .5-1 degree. In other words a fairly typical Burgundy year…. (Whatever that means.)

* The reds are remind me a bit of 2005; structured but balanced with an intense rich fruit. At this early stage lots of black cherry and cassis.

* Final yields have fallen as follows.

Pinot: -35%

Volnay 1er Cru Champans: -40%

Vosne Romanee VV:

Chambolle-Musigny:-40%

Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes: -25%

Clos Vougeot: -25%

* We will be tasting many 2010s next week during the Vente des Vins. I will report back.

Monday-Wednesday, September 21-23

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Monday-Wednesday 21-23 September

By Tuesday we have everything cleaned up. Place looks great and now we can begin to make the wines. A couple of the reds are starting their fermentations and I always say when we enter in the AM it is as though we are a bakery. This is the fun part as we see the juice literally changing before our eyes. Each morning we taste though the wines following their progress. It is fun for me to watch our three musketeers taste the young wines and get thier impressions.

Our wines in their various stages of maceration.

Meursault Genevrieres...tastes just like honey.

This year, the physical piece of our punch downs or “piegages” is quite interesting. At the begining of the fermentations, there are literally two layers of grapes; the top “cap” which is 2-3 feet thick, an aqueous second layer and finally a third cap sumerged under the aqueous layer. This is the first time I have seen this and it makes for a rather challenging and heart pumping experience as one must try to mix these three layers.

Alex in the tank.

The traditional and frankly the most effective way is by doing a “Lucy” and stomping the grapes in one’s shorts and bare feet. Needless to say this is a favorite of Jane, Etta and our chief Geraldine as the boys follow them with the pigeau to mix the second and third layers.

Wednesday morning the C02 fan was in full force and it took a good 30 miniutes to clear it out before we could begin to work. It is little appreciated how much C02 gas fermenting wine gives us and how deadly it can be. Unfortunately, every year or so there is a fatality in a tank where the proper security procedures were not followed. Some operations put a harness and a pully system on thier people when they get into the tanks. Chez Gambal, there is always one person out of the tank providing security for every person in the tank.

What's he doing in there??

Finally, Indian summer has arrived. Each day of this week has been getting more beautiful and warmer. Today we were in the high 70s. Amazing.

Sunday, September 20th

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:25:40 +0000

Will leaves in the early AM and Sunday is a day of cleaning and a few pump overs and some light pigage.

Geraldine and Gavin at it early.

Pumping over...

Pigage a la Lucille Ball.

Tuesday September 15th

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:03:42 +0000

Mr. Repairman

At 7:30 the Bourgogne Chardonnay from Savigny. What a sunrise and brilliant light as the “rasins dores” came in: golden grapes.

Immediately we went and picked up threee of our barrels of Corton Charlemagne in must. This is always a hoot because it is a who’s who of small negociants who buy from this supplier. One could also call us a rather motley crew but I try to be the first in line. This is definitely a straight shooter operation because everyone gets the same stuff and it never fails to deliver. This is one of the true win-win deals in Burgundy. As a mater of fact, the supplier gives us a bottle of wine every year to thank us for being a good customer and doing the right thing with his juice. Many of the small batch negociant wines that you see highly rated come form this source and thus, for once, there is a real positive realtionship where the supplier wants to give his customers good juice and in turn he wants to see you preform. I believe this is rare in any business much less the wine business.

Begins to get overcast as we drive north to drop off our 40 boxes for our Clos Vougeot grapes. It feels as though fall has arrived and rain has been announced for tonight and Wednesday day so our great luck seems to be running out. That said, everyone is a weatherman. I have learned to be zen… not totally, but not obsessive either.

Grapes ready for the sorting table.

The Clos Vougeot grapes look great and we drop off our boxes and will return in a few hours to pick them up. The owner’s wife and her 7 female friends are cutting the grapes; this is a good sign. We return after lunch to find our boxes filled with beautiful grapes but not very full. In their attention to make perfect boxes, they did not fill them to the top. So, after weighing we were 9.6% short in weight; this is not chump change so I had our broker call the owner and tell him the weight was off (the broker weighed the grapes with us). Thus, I schelpped back up to Gevery-Chambertin to pick up four full boxes to make up the difference. What does this mean in dollars you might ask? Are you ready???? 2,700 euros! Well worth the hour round-trip drive.

I will tell you a funny story about the cost of grapes etc. A few years ago, I did a tasting with Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat and the late Gary Andrus (always a wonderful person to me) and the discussion went to the cost of grapes. Jim bemoaned that his top grapes cost up to $4,000 a ton. After a pregnant pause I said, ”Jim, how about 9,000 euros ($12,600) for a barrel of Clos Vougeot?”( which equates to ~$38,000 a metric ton). Read it and weep mes amis but this is the reality of Burgundy and why we all watch the proverbial nickles and dimes.

Machines encore:

Well by now I am sure you will believe it but our egrapoir (destemmer) went dead as I brought in the last four cases of Clos Vougeot. After a couple of hours of trying to jerry rig it ourselves, we called in the technician who, in turn, had to jerry rig the variable speed switch so that it ran, but at the highest speed. At this speed, it makes grape puree so we were a bit reluctant ot throw in the last of the Clos Vougeot grapes (see above.) The upshot – after 1/2 an hour of 5 of us hand picking the grapes off the stems, McGyver Matt McClune had the ingenious idea to had turn the drum of the destemmer and it worked gently and perfectly. Matt was exhausted, but the grapes were intact and we did not make Welch’s jelly.

Dinner was a “stallione” by John; his risoto with roasted chicken, duck and toulouse sausages, sauted in his homemade chicken stock. Father John’s cooking does one well after a long day schlepping boxes of grapes.

John...who brought along a couple of his old buddies...

Numero un...

Numero deux.

Monday September 14th

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:31:25 +0000

Our itty bitty bunches of Bourgogne Pinot Noir.

Our other group of “sheltered workshop” pickers finished up our Pinot Noir vineyards by 12:45. What a group; effecient, serious, never a complaint and proud of what they do. I do not need to say anything more.

On a more practical note, our yields continue to confound me; yields too low. Yes I beleive in low yields but it continues to be a point of frustration for me to see that our yields are low by Grand Cru and 1er Cru standards. For Bourgogne Pinot Noir, the maximum per hectare is 61 hecto litres per hectare. This means 6100 liters per hectare (~2.4 acres) which equates to 8,100 bottles or ~ 677 cases. The following are the maximum numbers for the other appellations, but most importantly, please note that the price of Bourgogne Pinot Noir in bulk is ~1/2 to 2x that of village wines, 4-6 of 1er Cru and 10-15+ for Grand Crus. I believe you will see my point:

Village: 50 HL = 555 cases

1er Cru: 48 HL = 533 cases

Grand Cru: 35-42 HL = 388-466 cases

Our four parcels yielded the following per hectare (the total of the four parcels is 1.31 hectares):

Les Petits Pres: 38.50 HL = 427 cases

Long Bois: 59 HL = 655 cases

Condemaine: 46 HL = 511 cases

Monpoulin: 25.50 HL = 294 cases

Cara...just another day at the office.

The good news is that the wine will be a bomb (as usual) concentrated and our mini Volnay. The bad news is that the yields are not very economical. I am still a bit unsure as to why, but part of it is that the plant clones have a great deal to do with it. Quite simply, the bunches and berries are small and wonderful except for Long Bois where they are much bigger and yield heavier grapes and therefore more juice. The trick is going to try to coax the plants in the other three parcels to produce more bunches, well spaced, so that we can still have beautiful small bunches that are well ripened, but have a few more to make my averages a bit more palatable. In the meantime, it is not a problem because you get to drink a delicous bottle for short money.

Tu Tu - our grape "escalator"

Coming or Going? A True Beaune Story;

In the annals of “you cannot make this up” – at some point today, when Will was backing up the truck to the dock to unload grapes, he stopped and paused in thought; am I coming in or going out? He really was that tired and was lost in space and time. He solved the dilemma quite logically. He looked in the mirror and saw the truck was loaded with grapes. Ok I am coming and continued backing up. (It was a moment when one should not be operating heavy machinery or have your finger on the button.)

Coming or going? Definitely coming.

Big Will

Sunday September 13th

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:39:53 +0000

As I drove down at 7AM I witnessed one of the most amazing sunrises of my life. The sun was just rising above the horizon and seemed to explode into the sky as one sees pictures of over the Pacific. It lasted all of 3 minutes but what a way to start the day.

More of the sames as the pickiung team slows down. This is normal and expected as the energy of earlier in the week subsides and fatigue begins to crep into ones bones. The picking wnet all day in Petits Pres and our guys were dragging at the end. They finished all but parts of a couple of rows which I will have our boy/girl slaves attack on Monday AM. Rather uneventful; thankfully.

Dinner Chez Denis Toner:

It must be understood from the outset that the 4 principle food groups chez Denis are the followiong:

1. butter

2. cream

3. fois gras

4. truffles and/or truffle oil

Apero on the Patio

A Table (say with French accent)

From the above Denis’ capacity to invent multiple combinations is legendary and Sunday was no exception.

Amuse bouche: a dolop of fois gras in custard cream.

Hand made spring rolls on spicy noodles.

Broiled Salmon on purred potatoes (aka cream, truffels, lots of salt and a bit of potato to hold it together).

In other words the healthy part was more than canceled by the cream, butter and fois gras; what a wonderful concept.

Le Chef Denis

Saturday September 12th

Alex Gambal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:37:30 +0000

Pinot and Chardonnay Day

The winner of speed picking and effieciency is found at our supplier of Chassagne Montrachet vineyard Les Essarts. Every year we try to predict who might usurp thier speed and picking accuracy but once again they are the champions. Diana met them in the vineyard at 7:30 and she was back with 60 boxes / 5 barrels by 9:15.

Our speedy Team in the vineyards.

Arriving early to another beautiful sunrise.

Beautiful...and FAST...Chassagne grapes.

All day long we brought in the grapes for our Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvee Les Deux Papis. The first parcels comprised of approximately 9-10 barrels and are in the Pommard declination and are in Les Crennilles and Les Carelles. This area was classified as Pommard village wines beofre the AOC classifications in the 1930s. This area, and others that sit at the base of the villages up and down the cote, provide what I call “mini” Pommards, Volnays, Chambolles and the like. Geologically, many of these areas resemble delta river valleys and in a sense they were, because the glaciers that carved out the “combes” or small valleys that are behind, cut the Cote D’Or West to East. These ancient glacial rivers deposited rocks and gravel that provides for lovely drainage and “aerian” or finer, lighter in-style wines. This is ironic because one expects a Pommard area wine to be more muscular and tannic, but interestingly, this parcel is more about finesse – whereas another of our nearby Bourgogne parcels that lies within Volnay has heavier soils and produces a more muscular tannic wine. The differences and similariteis one finds over the years between parcels is not just a coincidence, but is rooted in the wonder, yet basic geology of this unique place.

We finished the day with a bit of our Pinot from Les Petits Pres – our best Bourgogne vineyard. The bunches are tiny, concentrated and absolutley fantastic. The yield is still too low to be economically interesting, but so what else is new in this business?

The grapes from our Petit Pres.

With the weather as beautiful as it is, I look forward to getting up to the crystal clear sunrises; we have been spoiled this harvest.

Dinner was Henry’s famous slow cook duck with lentils and scaloped potatoes. What more could one want?

First Course...

The Main Course!

Dessert...mmmmm.

Saturday, September 19th

Alex Gambal — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:39:38 +0000

Last grapes are in by noon – our Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes. Only two barrels of grapes but has no rot, all perfectly ripe, not much water in the boxes and the sorting table drains them off. We literally are picking out a few overripe or dried berries; virtually no triage. +13Alc; great.

Cleaning starts; boxes, trucks, everything. Several days worth.

Dinner, Paulee number two at Megan and Matt’s. Matt with his able assistant Will cook all afternoon; fantastic blanquette de veau. I start to fade and, as the cheese course is served, I sneak off to the living room to take a ”nap.” An hour and a half later, Diana wakes me to go home. Everyone is quite jolly as I see 3-4 empties on the table.

Friday, September 18th

Alex Gambal — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:34:30 +0000

Coming down the finish line. Fog again in the AM but it cleared up to a beautiful afternoon. Chambolle-Musigny comes in as well as a bit of St. Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly. En Remilly has the same type of stones as Dents de Chien except its exposure is directy south, thus giving it a richer and at times “fuller/creamier” profile.

The replacement press...

We have our Paulee on Friday night under John’s pergola. As usual, Henry and Stacia pull out all the stops:

Squash soup

Lamb with potatoes gratin

Perfect green beans

Cheese

Poached pears and vanilla ice cream

Chef Henri and another beautiful dish.

Wines all Gambal:

2005 Bourgogne Chardonnay Cuvee Prestige: a point

2002 St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Magnum: terrific but still has +5 years in it.

2006 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatieres: yummy and will last

1999 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Poissenots: about ready and terrific with the lamb.

2000 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques in Magnum: just right, another terrific and suprising 2000.

A light rain started at dinner and we put a tarp over the pergola and had a lovely evening.

Rained hard at night. Glad we are about done.

Thursday, September 17th

Alex Gambal — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:29:05 +0000

Teeth of the Dog and Mac and Cheese

Today we attacked St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien (literally large flat stones shaped like dog’s teeth). As you know this is one, if not my favorite vineyard. It always gives us terrific grapes with a subtle richenss mirrored by a summer hot rock stoniness. Our guys from the sheltered workshop started at 8:00 in thick fog. It was very strange; you literally could not see from one end of the vineyard to the other. The crew worked hard and got about 80% done by 1:00. We finished up in the evening from 5-6:30 under perfect blue skies. Interestingly, exactly the same volume as last year; 265 boxes of grapes.

By the way, after our fiasco in Puligny-Montrachet last, night we finally returned to the cuverie after 8PM. The call was made to punt and attack the Vosne first thing in the morning. We have put all of the grapes on our “Lucy” sorting table but there is very little to throw out. Honestly, I am so amazed at the condition of the grapes; clean as they can get.

If there is one meal that is the most sought after from Chef Henry, it is his legendary Mac and Cheese with bangers. The recipe is guarded a closely as that of the formula of Coca-Cola but I can tell you it includes copious amounts of creme fresh, compte and guyere cheese and then overnight in the refreigerator. The part that is still secret is how he gets the crispy bits on top; devine does not begin to describe it. This year he and Stacia went a step further. Not only did we have bangers, but also tomato farci made with their own mix of hamburger and sausage. Nuf said.