Picked at the end of the harvest for Maison Gambal, their 2007 Saint-Aubin Les Murgers des Dents de Chien (for some statistics on which please consult the introduction to this report) leads with grapefruit, lemon, and white peach that set the luscious and refreshing tenor for its entire palate performance. Along with this generous personality goes a bright, almost crystalline expression of mineral character that is as hard to pin down in words as it is invigorating and alluring to experience. It is difficult for me to reference any class of wine other than great Alsace or German Riesling in pointing out the sort of shimmering interchange of fruit and mineral one experience in 2007 vintage white Burgundies like this one. On the other hand, there is a satiny sort of textural richness on display here that one can in my experience seldom encounter outside of Burgundy. I would not be surprised to see this remain fascination for 6-8 years.
American Alex Gambal (for more of whose improbable story, readers are referred to issue 171, and for more about whose 2007 harvest, consult the introduction to this report) has established a solid reputation for his negociant firm both within France and abroad. And like so many negociants of both the bootstrapping and well-established sorts, he is seeking to benefit from every possible opportunity to access top-quality fruit or vineyards, and at the same time to purchase vineyard land I promising but less-celebrated locations. After a collection of 2006s that showed the precarious, borderline blowsy side of that vintage, it is a pleasure to report on a far more entertaining not to mention elegant crop of 2007s. Gambal was very sparing and early with batonnage, and tends to rack all of his wines out of barrel in mid-summer, bottling one portion before the next harvest, and leaving his more concentrated crus (or any that were especially late to undergo malo) in tank until February.
Various regional U.S. importers
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