Like so many of his Pinots this vintage, Gambal's 2006 Volnay Santenots Vieilles Vignes reflects his intentions to ferment and extract very gently so as to preserve the sweetness that was present in his fruit but avoid the bitterness of skins and pips that were at best marginally ripe. The result is wine that is itself gently supple, sweetly red-fruited, and fairly light both in color and touch. That said, the finish here shows a really sappy persistence, with invigorating salinity, ginger spice, and fresh fruit skin tartness. Two of five barrels here were new, incidentally, but there is no noticeable oak component. This should be lovely over a 3-4 year period. The 40% of Alex Gambal's acreage and contract fruit that constitutes Pinot Noir faced in principle – like those of other vignerons – greater challenges in 2006 than did his Chardonnay. But I find his results in red more satisfying. (For a report on Gambal's 2006 whites, consult issue 180, and for more about this American ex-pat's negociant operation and methods, readers are referred to issue 171.) The 2006 Pinots here harbor typically between 13 and 13.5% natural alcohol. Lesser appellations in red went to bottle already at ten months, and the rest after around 15 Various regional U.S. importers

An attractive mix of fresh cherry, red currant, raspberry and oak spice notes mark this red. This needs time for the oak to integrate, but it's not just flash—there's substance too. Fine length. Best from 2013 through 2024. 125 cases made.??–BS??Region: France / Burgundy / Volnay Select to Add

The 2005 Volnay Santenots Vieilles Vignes, smells fetchingly of deep, sweet, ripe black cherry, brown spices, aromatic woods (probably not oak – only two of five barrels were new), moss, and hints of cherry pit bitterness. On the palate, tart but ripe black fruit offers counterpoint to an incipient creaminess of texture. A concentrated finish successfully integrates fresh fruit brightness and tart, bitter elements for a most invigorating effect. This should respond well to 3-5 years of cellaring, although Gambal is at pains to forecast that with their high acidity and polyphenols most of these 2005s may shut down soon after bottling and for several years. In the interest of full disclosure as well as history, I should note that Alex Gambal was a retail customer of mine during his days in Washington, DC real estate (probably amassing the proverbial large fortune prerequisite to making a small fortune in the wine business). I met him again when he was honing his French in the employ of Becky Wasserman, just before he entered the Lycee Viticole in Beaune at the improbable age of thirty-nine. It has been almost a decade now since Gambal began his negociant business. With a sophisticated, huge, gravity-fed, and historically-housed facility, increasingly high-quality and long-term grape contracts, gradual accumulation of his own vine acreage, and clearly adept assistance from wine maker Fabrice Laronze, Gambal is demonstrating impressive results with his 4-5,000 cases annually of both red and (60%) white. Several of his 2005 vintage reds had only just been bottled when I tasted. The others had been racked and assembled in tank for early two months, awaiting imminent bottling. Numerous importers. EURL Alex Gambal, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-22-21-66