Articles

3/23/17 - The center of gravity in Champagne skews decidedly northward. Montagne de Reims, La Valée de Marne and Côte des Blancs are spoken of more frequently and likely more glowingly, than Sézanne, Montgueux, Côtes de Bar. But there’s serious terroir in those hills and valleys if you look. It’s no secret that some of the most compelling developments in Champagne are coming from...

3/20/17 - Wink is here! Well, almost. Our good friend and fellow Jura/Savoie enthusiast, Wink Lorch, is making a rare appearance in New York City, and we are delighted to host her in the store on Friday, April 7th, from 5-7pm. Wink Lorch’s wine writing career spans more than 25 years, with half of them devoted to covering the Jura and the surrounding winemaking...

3/14/17 - These wines come from our friend T, who had a very simple answer when I asked why he was selling: “I have too much wine!” He started drinking Chateauneuf-du-Pape when he was fairly new to wine (not to date him, but that was a long time ago, and he now has a lot of tasting and drinking experience!). He immediately liked the...

3/11/17 - Last year we introduced the wines from Domaine Les Grandes Vignes, a sizeable Biodynamic estate in the Loire Valley that we have been really impressed with since we first started tasting their wines in 2015. We recently received a new shipment, and so figured it'd be a good time to re-introduce the estate to our readers, and highlight some new cuvées that...

3/7/17 - Please join us this Saturday as we welcome Pierre and Catherine Breton to Chambers Street! Since 1985, the Bretons have been producing some of the most elegant and delicious wines in the Loire Valley, with great farming and brilliant winemaking and with a convivial attitude that has gained them friends everywhere. Their early conversion to organic farming and biodynamic methods helped inspire...

3/5/17 - 2015 has been touted as the vintage of the century, or the best since ____ (fill in the blank) and indeed it's a vintage in France that produced excellent wines in many regions.  There is a great deal of variation, of course, having to do with the level of heat during the late summer and the timing and quantity of rains that...

3/2/17 - Philip Togni's winemaking career spans nearly the entire history of Napa Valley's relevance in the second half of the 20th century. A cursory examination of his winemaking resume drops several of the greatest names to produce wines here: Mayacamas, Inglenook, and Chappelet, as well as legendary Chalone in Monterey. Now at the age of 90, Togni has handed of the winemaking reins...

3/1/17 - It's no secret that we at Chambers Street Wines are big fans of the Loire Valley and the astounding range of expression its varied terroir gives Chenin Blanc. Within the lower Loire where Chenin is king, geology varies more than climate: granites, schists, quartzites, sandstones and  ancient, weathered limestones alternate along the valleys and divides of its eleven principal appellations. The chalk hills of the Paris Basin that...

2/27/17 - With each new year, we bid adieu to winemakers who have decided to retire, with hopes that their legacies will be carried on, either by daughters and sons, or by talented apprentices and stagiaires who have absorbed the know-how and philosophy of their predecesors, and are comitted to continuing in a like-minded fashion. Sometimes we're lucky and the transition is seamless. Other times,...

2/23/17 - We are excited to have visitors from Boca: Anna Sertorio and Andrea Marzo, owners of the organic vineyard called Ai Valloni. After the war, Ai Valloni was one of just a few producers who held on as the land under vine in Boca (and throughout Alto Piemonte) shrunk dramatically, the result of a combination of flight to the city, and a declining...

2/22/17 - We were lucky enough to meet and taste with Jean-Charles Maire at Domaine du Pont de Breux in the Spring of 2013 and we are sad to present the last wines produced at the estate before his death in 2015. From the estate description by Jean-Charles: "The domaine was created in 1992, situated in the communes of Marnoz and Salins-les Bains. It...

2/20/17- My wife and I love Venice, and we keep going back. Some people understand, and others think we’re crazy because Venice is so thoroughly overrun with tourists that it can be really trying. But if you pick the right time of year (ie, NOT in summer!),and if you relax because you know it’s always going to be crowded at certain spots, then it...

2/19/17 - More than a decade ago, Chris Cottrell and Morgan Twain-Peterson became friends while working for the same wine store in NYC. When Morgan moved back to California and eventually started Bedrock Wine Company in 2007, Chris remained on the front lines of NYC wine retail. Morgan became well-renowned at Bedrock for producing expressive Zinfandels from old-vine heritage vineyards throughout California, while Chris...

2/18/17 - Rhys Vineyards produces an exquisite range of single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, and Syrahs from California. There is a precise minerality, focused elegance, and most importantly, definite sense of place that one finds in these wines. Without question, Rhys produces some of the best wines in the United States. Kevin Harvey, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, became fascinated with wine in the early 1990s....

2/8/17 - That’s “vooltooray," in Italian. It’s not a bird, it’s a very large mountain – an extinct volcano, in fact. As you may recall, volcanoes make for very good farming because of the fertile soils produced by past eruptions. Some of the best agricultural land is actually not adjacent to Monte Vulture, but 10-15 miles to the east, where there are excellent grape...