New Arrivals from Kelley Fox!

7/14/23 -

Here at Chambers Street we end up tasting a lot of wine, with a seemingly constant stream of reps shuffling in and out with an endless supply of lovely liquids. It's not often that a tasting generates the type of buzz across the entire staff as when our friend and Polaner rep Hannah comes by with new Kelley Fox wines. Everyone stops what they're doing and grabs a glass, eager to taste some of the most consistently well-made and ethereal wines coming out of Oregon or really anywhere. The wines never disappoint and often expand our perception of just how precise, elegant and soulful dometic wines can be.

This precision might stem from Kelley's background in academia, earning a B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M and a Masters in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State. The soulfulness no doubt comes in part from her time working with Oregon legend David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards, where a philosophy of letting the land, the vines and the grapes speak for themselves has carried over into her winemaking. She's also worked at Torii Mor, Hamacher, and spent ten years as winemaker at Scott Paul Wines. Since 2015 she has been exclusively making her own wines, working directly with farmers at some of the best vineyard sites in the Willamette. All of her wines are farmed biodynamically and/or organically and fermented with native yeasts, with minimal input and a goal of attaining the purest expression of a time and place. To quote Kelley herself, "The wines are made to reflect the land, the vines, the fruit of the vines, the year, and everything else unknown and unseen that comes with those things. They are Oregon wines, and hopefully, they are wines specifically of their vineyards. That said, the wines are not really “made” at all.  I am not Pygmalion, imposing my idea of what they should be onto them. It is a vulnerable approach, but to me, it’s how this work becomes non-hierarchical and respecting life. What I am doing-and it still takes a lot of inner and outer work-and being in the silence- is responding to the essence of the fruit from each block, which I hope is carrying the essence of the earth that bore it, along with the details of the year (the weather, the stars, and the planets, etc. etc.). As I age having worked like this for so long, I feel profound gratitude to be on this walk."

We feel profound gratitude to be able to offer a selection of her incredible wines, including two very special single vineyard Pinot Noirs. The Gruner and Pinot Blanc are also not to be missed, and her Nerthus rosé is one of the most intriguing and delicious rosés we've had the pleasure of trying. We also have a small amount of her single vineyard Chardonnays, which will turn your perception of domestic Chardonnay upside down. Lastly, we still have a couple bottles of her 2020 vermouth, which is as good a vermouth as I've ever tasted. Don't take my word for it though - try some for yourself! Jeff DiLorenzo