Articles

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...

3/16/22 - Some email offers write themselves: wines you've drunk for years, maybe you've visited the growers, or it's a benchmark wine and the name alone will have people rushing to buy! buy! buy! Sometimes there's a wine that just needs a little more attention (and isn't this the year that Condrieu finally gets the love it deserves?). And then there are times where...

3/11/22 - Sometimes I think way too much about Sangiovese…In my mind I have this picture (or pictures) of “true” Chianti Classico, filtered through the lenses of both village and producer. Monte Bernardi in Panzano is lifted and precise—nervy and taut with a pungent mineral core, that leads with elegant, pure fruit fanning out from the structure. Montesecondo in San Casciano boasts ripe red...

2/12/22 - Year after year, we fall in love with the wines of Envinate, a collaborative project founded by four winemakers and friends who met while in enology school in Alicante. Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez make wines from choice plots in the Canary Islands, Ribeira Sacra, Murcia, and Almansa, intending to express the unique terroirs of each region. They...

2/1/22 - Today, you have the chance to grab the first ever vintage of Croix & Courbet, the awesome collaboration between David Croix, of Beaune's young but famous Domaine des Croix, and Damien Courbet, from Domaine Courbet in the Jura. We've featured both of these men in the past, praising their respective approaches. The friends, who met at oenology school in Dijon, are focused on Savagnin, a varietal...

1/31/22 - Elian Da Ros & Sandrine Farrugia, the Côtes-du-Marmandais Even in France, the Marmandais region is quite obscure unless you are a rugby fan or a tomato aficionado. Upstream along the Garonne in the Lot-et-Garonne, barely 45 min drive from Sauternes, this softly rolling, peaceful area is historically a polycultural land of tobacco, grains, and tomatoes whose fame is due to early 19th...

12/8/21 - As we lurch towards the holidays, I wanted to put a spotlight on some domestic wines that are in stock that we typically get just a few bottles of (and in one case, that we won't be able to purchase ever again). Each of these wines is defined by its vineyard site, made by people who care deeply about exploring terroir. We...

12/6/21 - Ferrand in the cellar (vinetrail.co.uk) BREAKING NEWS: There are only 9 bottles left of Nicolas Ferrand's thrilling Coteau de la Mort 2017 Mondeuse.Meaning by the time you finish reading this offer (or possibly this sentence) they'll most likely be gone... but do not fear! Our supplier of Domaine des Côtes Rousses has plenty of the 2018 vintage available - an equally delicious wine of dark fruits and flowers, zingy herbs, and strong Alpine...

11/22/21 - A few weeks ago, we took a look at Fabrice Dodane's Le Dos d'Chat (VDF) lineup of negocient wines. Two bottlings, a Poulsard and a Trousseau, come from his native Jura. Another spectacular bottle is his Syrah made with grapes from the Northern Rhone. Although these wines are delicious, they only exist because of the chaotic and harmful effects of climate change on the Jura. Before...

11/15/21 - We remember a stroll through Paris in 2008 when  a salesperson at "Le Vin en Tete" recommended "Haut Plessis" from La Lunotte. Wow, what an extraordinary wine - Jura Savagnin sous-voile meets Menu Pineau from Touraine! We called Christophe Foucher the next day and have been trying to obtain his wines ever since, with only occasional sucess, so we're very happy to...

11/10/21 - I don’t often drink the wine that I’m offering while I’m writing about it -  but sometimes I do. Last night, I brought home the Cascina Luisin Langhe Nebbiolo ‘Maggiur.’ I took a glass to my fiancée and asked her to guess the varietal. She spun the glass, put it to her nose, and before even tasting it, she let out a...

11/8/21 - "The best $50 Cabernet in New York? For you old-schoolers, it might just be." We made this bold statement two years ago after being shown one of the most compelling Cabernet Sauvingons we've tasted in years. It has the black currant, cedarwood, bright acidity, fine mineral character of the old California Cabernets we cut our teeth on before the wine critic-driven ripeness...

11/6/21 - I met Wells Guthrie for the first time not in New York or California, but in Burgundy, a place for which we share a great affinity. I had been invited along to taste at a domaine in Marsannay and afterward as my friend drove back she asked if I would mind making a stop in Nuits Saint Georges to see a visiting American...