While working for his family's real estate and parking business in DC in the late 80s, Alex Gambal received a life-changing case of wine as a gift. It wasn’t just wine that was uncorked, but opportunity. In 1993, he and his family moved to France. Gambal founded and grew Domaine Alex Gambal, a boutique winery that included some of France's greatest vineyards. As an American in Burgundy, Gambal overcame skepticism from his fellow vignerons and eventually bought some of the most coveted French vines. Today, he spends his time between Idaho and Wyoming in the Teton mountains, where he is a ski host at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, an avid hiker and a grandfather. He is as passionate about wine as he is about community development. He is also the benefactor and chairman of the Diana “Dee” Williams Freestyle Fund, a charitable foundation to benefit the development and advancement of promising mogul skiers to the Olympic and World Cup level.

There’s a common saying in the wine business, “If you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large fortune,” Owning a winery is a tough business to crack anywhere. Now envision being an American who decides to “chuck it all” to start a winery in Burgundy, a region where vineyard land and allocations are small and sub-divided by generations of families.

And so begins the dream of vintner Alex Gambal, who in 1993 left his family’s real estate and parking business in the Washington D.C area to move to Beaune to learn the wine business and immerse in the French way of living with his wife and two young children.

Lucky for Gambal, his mentor was Becky Wasserman, the American expatriate wine exporter who championed small Burgundy producers and shippers. Gambal worked with Wasserman for a few years and enrolled in viticultural school. He became a negociant and established his Domaine Alex Gambal in 1997, eventually owning 30 acres of vineyards that included the storied Gran Cru Bâtard Montrachet.

NOSHING WITH ALEX GAMBAL – SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

This week, Ira spoke with Alex Gambal, author of Climbing the Vines in Burgundy: How an American Came to Own a Legendary Vineyard in France. In this fermented episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Alex talks about why he decided to write this book, which is both a family memoir and an accessible, detailed look at the worlds of gastronomy and enology; how he learned “winespeak” very quickly; the “seminal moment” when he sold the business; ego vs. knowledge; and turning the page to a new chapter of his life.

In the late 80s, while working for his family’s real estate and parking business in Washington, DC, Alex received a life-changing case of wine as a gift. It wasn’t just wine that was uncorked, but opportunity. In 1993 he and his family moved to France. Over the next 26 years, after his family relocated to New England, Gambal straddled the Atlantic from Boston to Burgundy while creating Domain Alex Gambal, a boutique winery that included some of France’s greatest vineyards. A hard-nosed-businessman in a community steeped in tradition, Gambal defeated the odds by buying some of the most coveted French vines and creating a successful brand that was eventually sold to one of the largest winemakers in the region.