Decanter World Wine AwardsGambal becomes first foreigner to own Les Batards Montrachet Grand Cru
- Friday 11 March 2011
- Comments (3)
Gambal has bought the land from Philippe Brenot of Domaine Brenot in Santenay for an undisclosed sum: the deal comprises 3.5ha of vines in Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Santenay.
Gambal, who was Brenot's student at Beaune's wine school from 1996-1997, started his negociant business in 1998. Originally from Washington DC, he is described in Decanter by Stephen Brook as having 'patiently created a small, high-quality négociant company. Whites and reds are equally good, and prices are moderate'.
For his latest project he gathered a group of friends and investors from the US and UK as well as ‘a modest amount of bank financing’ to put the deal together.
The Bâtard-Montrachet parcels, called Les Bâtards Montrachet, can produce up to 7.5 barrels of wine (187 cases).
The parcel of Puligny-Montrachet, Les Enseiginères, covers 0.3ha and is classified as a village wine but because of its preeminence is often referred to as 'baby Bâtard'.
The Chassagne-Montrachet vineyard, of less than one tenth of a hectare, is called L'Ormeau. Gambal also acquired a house on the Santenay town square which will be rented out.
Gambal intends to convert the land to biodynamic immediately ‘using no tractors, plowed with a horse, with all spraying to be done by hand,’ he told Decanter.com.
He will not change his distribution patterns – at present a quarter of his business is within France with the rest exported to US, UK, Russia, Australia, and Asia.
Have your say!
alex gambal
March 28 15:26
You are correct and I never said Montrachet in my comments. I too was surprised by how it was worded. We bought Batard-Montrachet one of the Grand-Cru in Puligny and Chassagne.
Regards,
Alex
Michael D
March 14 14:06
I am sorry, but technically speaking, Mr. Furer was correct in saying Montrachet, and not Le Montrachet. Batard-Montrachet is indeed a Grand Cru in the 'Montrachet' appellation, certainly not the Le Montrachet appellation.
Thus, it would be easier to refer to other sub-appellations as simply Chevalier, Chassagne, Batard, Puligny, etc.
Tomas E
March 11 21:58
If Gambal has bought vineyards in the appellation Bâtard-Montrachet, rather than Montrachet (as in "Appellation Montrachet Contrôlée"), Decanter's heading is obviously misleading unless he also has holdings in Montrachet. Sure, Bâtard-Montrachet is also a Grand Cru, and situated just on the other side of the road, but it is *not* the same appellation.
The wines will probably be good just the same, since I'll the Gambal wines I've tried so far have been quite good. And I'm sure they will be correctly labelled...