Articles

5/21/10 - Attention all Jura enthusiasts, we’re pleased to announce the return of Jacques Puffeney’s wines to our shelves. There’s been a drought over the past few months, but at long last our thirst for Poulsard and Trousseau can be quenched. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this man, Jacques Puffeney lives at the top of a small mountain in the tiny...

5/18/10 - ("Fan-fan" in front of his destemmer, Photo: Alice Feiring) The wines of Jean-Francois Ganevat are rapidly becoming some of our favorites from the Jura. Jean-Francois is known to his friends as “Fan-fan.” Though he is Jurassian by origin, Ganevat learned wine-making in Burgundy, where he spent ten years at Domaine Morey in Chassagne-Montrachet (which Domaine Morey it’s difficult to established because so...

5/10/10 - What makes the presence of a small amount CO2 dissolved in a wine and waiting to be released when the bottle is popped, such a treat? We love bubbly wines and we’re of the opinion that you don’t have to wait for a festive occasion to drink them. As much as we’d all like to swig Champagne on a regular basis, there...

4/28/10 - There is a phrase buried in Julian Jeffs' comprehensive book on Spain that subtly praises Ribeira Sacra as "potentially among the best vineyards in the world."  The Romans who built the original terraces there, according to legend, must have sensed the magic of the land.  They were known to have valued the wines particularly of Amandi, the prime sub-zone of Ribeira Sacra,...

3/1/10 - (Pundericher Marienburg farmed by Clemens Busch) Everyone is familiar with the majestic wines that come from Scharzhofberg, Piesporter Goldtropfchen, and Wehlener Sonnenuhr. But for adventurous terroir-lovers the Mosel Valley can be an infinite goldmine for diverse Rieslings from outlier vineyards and lesser-known sites – and we love Mosel Wine Merchant for helping us explore them!This concise portfolio manages to capture the versatility...

 2/26/10 - After traveling with Terry Theise and visiting his growers in Austria, the wines of Nikolaihof-Wachau were truly the most profound wines of the tour. This winery is believed to be the oldest in Austria, with the first documents of wine production dating back to 470 A.D. Tasting the wines seems something akin to reciting creed, as if participating in a long repetition...

2/23/10 - (Plowing on the Cote du Py) Over the last thirty years, the work of Marcel Lapierre has been an inspiration to those seeking more natural methods of winemaking. It was in 1981, under the influence of Jules Chauvet, that Marcel took the family estate back, or forward, to organic methods in the vineyard and vinifications with wild yeasts and without sulfur-dioxide. Lapierre's...

2/18/2010 - With all the hype about the 2007 vintage in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, we forget that many estates made great, and more balanced wines in 2006. Principally among these was the Armenier sister's Domaine de Marcoux. We have been fortunate enough to obtain a good supply of the Marcoux CDP Rouge 2006 (and a little bit of their unique Blanc from 2007) at close-out prices...

12/4/2009 - At the lounges where I'm a regular, I prefer a seat at the bar that’s just left of center directly in front of the bartender’s main station – there I get to observe the successive creation of each cocktail: spirits queued up, measured pours, cracked eggs, mists, precise-stern shakes, and the long metered stir held in perfect time while conversing with a...

10/15/2009 - (Strangenberg) Chambers Street is very proud to feature the great Alsatian wines of these three wonderful producers - at prices that are somewhat miraculous given the amazing quality of the wines! We have always loved the wines of Pierre and Chantal Frick. They've been organic since 1970 and Biodynamic since 1981 and have been leaders of the natural wine movement in France....

10/12/2009 - (Ducroux's biodynamic vineyards in Regnié - Photo: D. Lillie) We were happy to see yesterday's article by Eric Asimov in The New York Times extolling the virtues of Cru Beaujolais ("Beaujolais Shows Its Complex Side" 08/05/2009.) We at Chambers Street have always been huge fans of Beaujolais despite the lack of respect this region receives in the US, and even in France. Gamay...

10/8/2009 - On a day that’s closing in on 90 degrees it will seem counter-intuitive to try to sell you Cote Rotie… but here’s the story: In 2001 drinks giant Diageo (by my understanding the largest seller of alcoholic beverages in the world) acquired the venerable US import company called Chateau & Estates when they bought Seagrams. American wine lovers know C&E as the...

10/6/2009 - Fall is an ideal time for wine lovers to take a fresh look at Grenache, a grape known and loved for yielding wines with robust fruit, abundant spice, and plush texture. These are the succulent and often sweet flavors of fruit- ripened in southern climates- that initially caused many of us to become besotted by wine. To palates that have been bathed...

10/3/2009 - We have received our yearly supply of the D. Ventura wines. They are amongst our favorite tipples from Spain for their vivid fruit and earth flavors and their clear concise representations of the visually striking Ribeira Sacra terrain. The D. Ventura wines avoid the pitfalls that seem to trip-up many of the young winemakers in Spain today. The male chest thumping of...

10/2/2009 - (Domaine Ducroux in Thulon, Photo: David Lillie) Exciting news for Natural Wine lovers - we've received our allocation for the year of Christian Ducroux's 2008 Regnie Sans Souffre! (And a little of the regular cuvèe as well) Ducroux is a master of natural wine-making - his vineyards have been organic (now certified Biodynamic by Demeter) since 1985 giving the grapes the nutrients...