Articles

11/1/2007 - Paul is a brilliant winemaker and the Furst winery has a stellar reputation inside of Germany and justifiably so. The Furst winery is located in Franken in Southern Germany and has been involved in viticulture since 1638. The winery is housed in Burgstadt and that is where their main vineyard is, the great Burgstadter Centgrafenberg. They have 27 acres in the Burgstadter...

10/30/2007 - It finally feels like Fall in New York – hurrah! A chill in the air and our thoughts turn back to fine red wine in earnest. Luckily our friend and esteemed colleague David Weitzenhoffer, expert Sommelier (ex Felidia) and die-hard Piedmont aficionado (keep an eye out for his upcoming book on Barolo, which should be a much-welcome addition to a subject that...

10/23/2007 - If there ever was a wine category that beguiles people it is German Pinot Noir aka Spatburgunder. There are many misconceptions about Spatburgunder in the United States as the demand in Germany has always been more than supply could meet. No misconceptions in Germany mind you, just over here in the new world. The first thing you need to do when approaching...

10/18/2007 - Lambruschi's wines are among the greatest white wines from Italy that we have tasted (our list does not include Dreams or Planeta Chard, but that's just our weird taste). For one thing, this is white wine that improves with age; they are tremendously concentrated and simultaneously delicate. Both wines come from vineyards with views of the sea, and they taste like the...

10/15/2007 - We are thrilled to be able to offer a new wine from the Muscadet master Marc Ollivier. It is called Granite de Clisson. There is a great concept behind this wine. It is from a group of growers called the 3eme Niveau, which is identifying vineyard sites in the region that they believe are worthy of Grand Cru status. These sites must...

10/1/2007 - Australian wine is something that we at Chambers Street Wines are not that well known for. There are many reasons but the main one is probably that the wines really do not ascribe to our philosophy. There is not much natural, organic or sustainable viticulture down there and the wines, in general, seem to be in the big, extracted, sweet, overripe, oaky...

9/29/2007 - Regis Forey has holdings in some of the best vineyards in Burgundy but is often overlooked in lieu of other producers. The style is very austere and needs many years to come around but is well worth the wait. From Clos Vougeot to Nuits St. Georges "Les St. Georges" and the vaunted Vosne Romanee "Les Gaudichots", there is something for every burg...

9/27/2007 - One of the highlights of our yearly Loire Valley trip is the tasting with Bernard and Matthieu Baudry, at the Salon in Angers or at their beautiful home in Cravant.  Each year the Baudry's wines are among the very finest Loire reds, the purity and elegance of the wines reflected by the friendly and thoughtful personalities of Bernard and his son. Since...

9/26/2007 - The Clos de la Neore is a choice parcel of the famous Mont Damnes vineyard – a grand cru spot with an ideal southern exposure and the pure chalk soil that produces the best Sancerres (well, our favorites, at any rate). Edmund Vatan went into semi-retirement in 2002, and the supply of his wines – already very small – has become miniscule....

9/17/2007 - The Traisental is one of the more obscure wine regions in all of Austria but the quality of the wines is anything but obscure. Traisental used to be grouped with Caruntum and Donauland until 1995, after which it could be referred to as its own wine region. Most of the area has soils of loess and loam and sometimes deposits of gravel...

8/28/2007 - A five day trip to Piedmont in late May produced numerous highlights – impossible not to with visits to Roagna, Guiseppe and Francesco Rinaldi, both Mascarellos, G Conterno, etc. But our visit to Cappellano was really memorable. The wines are extraordinary, and their quality is well-complimented by Teobaldo Cappellano, who is passionate, erudite, philosophical, and entertaining on any topic, but particularly as...

8/23/2007 - Eric Texier is one of our favorite producers here at Chambers Street Wines. He makes a wide range of wines from the Southern and Northern Rhône and occasionally might wander over to Macon or Cassis. When Eric started his dream of becoming a winemaker, buying vineyards was too much of a financial burden, so he became a negociant which explains why he...

8/3/2007 - When the 100 point scale to rate wine quality was adopted by Robert Parker and subsequent writers and publications, it seemed to have a stimulating and beneficial effect on the American wine scene.  Consumers who lacked knowledge and experience, or were suspicious of the wine trade, could march confidently into a shop and say "I'll take a case of Chateau Poo-Poo, it got...

7/20/2007 - Bruno Clavelier might not be the first person you think of when someone utters the magical name Vosne Romanee. Robert Arnoux, Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Grivot, Engel, Meo-Camuzet, Hudelot-Noellat are just some that come to a typical Burgundy lover's mind. What about Bruno Clavelier? Well they should start thinking of him as he is making some of the most traditional, succulent...

7/17/2007 - Finally, the top growers in the AOC Muscadet Sèvre et Maine are beginning to get the credit they deserve (see for example "Take an Oyster by Surprise" - Eric Asimov, NY Times, Jan 11th, 2006), as over the last 10 years many of the best cuvées by Marc Ollivier, Pierre Luneau-Papin, Claude Branger, Jo Landron, Guy Bossard and Andre Bregeon have become...