Articles

7/6/22 - We're very happy to have five new wines in our Loire section today, all of them from our friend Philippe Delmée, who is situated in Faye D'Anjou, in the Anjou appellation. A math teacher in his former life, Philippe became interested in wine in the early 2000's, and after studying for 2 years, began commuting from Brittany to Angers, in the Loire...

6/22/22 - I recently had a opportunity to spend some time in Burgundy, where I had not been since 2018. It was a wonderful trip. Not only because Burgundy is lovely (it is) but because I spent the majority of my time meeting and tasting with producers whose cellars I had previously never seen. Not only was each visit delightful—the wines I tasted over...

6/18/22 - In the Spring of 2019, I had the great pleasure of attending a lunch with Marc Hochar from Chateau Musar, Lebanon's most recognized and historic winery. I accepted the invitation because I knew the opportunity was rare to learn about the winery from one of the descendants of the founder, Gaston Hochar, and because I had only pulled the wines for customers...

6/4/22 - Just east of the town of Menetou-Salon, and just southwest of Sancerre, is the sleepy village of Morogues with its great terroirs of Kimmeridgian limestone and silex. Here we find Domaine Pellé, known as one of the regions finest producers of white Menetou-Salon from Sauvignon Blanc, and red Menetou-Salon from 100% Pinot Noir. Domaine Pellé is a fourth generation family estate run...

5/20/22 - At Chambers Street Wines we're especially excited for the new Champagne releases from Emilien Feneuil, a prodigiously talented biodynamic grower from Chamery, whose first two vintages have dazzled us. These tiny production Champgnes and Coteaux Champenois have brilliant energy and a sensational terroir expression, the result of magnificent farming and deft work in the cellar. Biodynamically farming 17 small plots (for a...

5/17/22 - It's no secret that the Rieslings of the Mosel (Saar and Ruwer) are some of the most articulate expressions of terroir in the world. At their finest, they are filigreed, detailed, mineral, and pure. The region is home to a number of sensational growers: J.J. Prüm, Egon Müller, Vollenweider, Von Schubert, Lauer, not to mention one of our favorites—Willi Schaefer. This 4.2...

5/14/22 - Before jetting off to Vienna in a couple of days for the first VieVinum wine fair since the "before times", I scored an opportunity to bring in two Heavyweights from the Wachau. Admittedly considered to be among the top producers in the Wachau, let alone Austria, I couldn't resist the urge to showcase their different styles (stainless steel vs old casks) and...

5/10/22 - Fattoria le Masse is located in the village of Barberino Val d’Elsa in Chianti. You might be visiting to walk the biodynamically tended vineyards and taste the wine. Or you maybe because you've signed up for a yoga class. Or you could be a lucky painter, selected as one of this year's resident artists at the estate (a project that began in June of 2021). Le Masse, if you couldn't...

5/6/22 - So far, this Spring has felt like Winter with a dash of Summer and a lot of rain. At this point, we are likely to wake up one day and discover that it's the middle of Summer. Though it seems we will have a few classic pleasant Spring days, with a warm, reassuring sun during the day and  "hoodie weather" at night,...

5/4/22 - Our relationship with the Raffault family goes back to 1990, when Olga put a push-pin into New York on her map of the world, on the occasion ot the estate's first shipment to the US. They were apprehensive, but sensing that we were serious, winemaker Ernest Zeinninger kept bringing older and older wines from the cellar, all of which were fascinating and...

4/13/22 - We are huge fans of Oriol Artigas, as a gentle soul and as a passionate winemaker. Though only making wines for around 10 years, he has become well known in natural wine circles, and his wines have wowed drinkers across the globe. Situated in the small town of Alella, just north of Barcelona, Oriol has been working with sandy, granitic vineyards overlooking...

4/9/22 - While we have enjoyed tasting the Saumur-Champigny's of Antoine Sanzay in France, they have not been readily available in the US, so we are extremely happy to offer today two vintages of his top cuvée "Les Poyeux." Also on offer today is a wine first produced in 2016, "Les Terres Rouges," from vines grown in sandy clay/limestone soils, with a high conent...

4/5/22 - One of the little joys of late, as the world has haltingly come back to life, has been the occasional opportunity to sit down with some of our favorite winemakers, sharing bottles and a meal and talking to them about their work. A great bottle of wine is always enhanced by the insights of the person behind it. I recently had the...

3/29/22 - We write often in these emails about idiosyncracy, in wines and in the people responsible for them. It's not a surprise really. Viticulture is often a solitary venture, even a lonely one, that takes place in pockets of the world where one can grow precious few other things. Over the years, I've had the tremendous good fortune to visit great growers, often in...

3/25/22 - When I started here at Chambers Street in 2020, I was totally unfamiliar with the wines of Antoine Lienhardt but they were there on the shelf the first day I arrived. Specifically it was the two single-vineyard bottlings from the Cote de Nuits-Villages that have become his calling card here in New York. I asked my colleague John McIlwain about them, and...