Articles

2/21/11 -  As anyone close to me can attest, I haven’t stopped talking about the wines of Weiser-Kuenstler since I returned from Germany. When I sat down with Alexandra to taste, I had a cursory awareness of what this estate was up to, but as we progressed with the wines, I was pleasantly startled to find my notes accelerating with giddiness! The first wine...

2/14/11 - (Matthieu Baudry with his son, Photo: D. Lillie) One of my favorite wines of the 1989 vintage in the Loire Valley was the Chinon Les Grezeaux of Bernard Baudry which we imported directly at Garnet Wines back in the dim, dark past - a superb wine that was lovely to drink young and that a fortunate few still have in their cellars. It's...

2/1/11 - At the young age of 29 an ambitious Manchuelan is quietly leading Spain's viticultural renaissance. Born into a vine-tending family, Juan Antonio Ponce received an oenology degree at just 17 years old. He worked for the local co-op for a short time, and then along with his natural wine-making peers Olivier Riviere (Rioja) and Fernando Garcia (Vinos de Madrid) worked in a variety of...

1/23/11 - I like to think of Eminence Road Winery as part of the new wave of natural negociants (Dashe Cellars, Broc Cellars, Edmunds St. John in California, and The Scholium Project in both New York and California are good examples), all are producers who buy grapes and make low-interventionist wines. Eminence is run by Andrew Scott and Jennifer Clark, who work with three...

12/15/10 - (Didier Barouillet of Clos Roche Blanche, Photo: D. Lillie) We interrupt this holiday season with an important news flash for lovers of Loire Valley reds: Bernard Baudry's 2009 Chinon Franc de Pied is here, along with the 2009 Cot from Clos Roche Blanche. Due to the tiny quantities available of these two wines, we ask that purchases be limited to 3 bottles...

10/13/10 - Canary Ash Salt Floral Sensation - an unusual Spanish terruno emerges.  Prevailing winds, nearly sub-tropical conditions, and dark volcanic soils bring these wines to life remarkably. During the 16th and 17th centuries, British traders were busy filling the demands of their homeland for the wines of Las Islas Canarias, "the dog islands."  Aptly named by the Romans, Las Islas Canarias refers to...

10/11/10 We mourn the passing last night of Marcel Lapierre, producer of delicious Beaujolais and a great influence on wine-makers around the world who learned from him, and from his mentor Jules Chauvet, how to make wines without artifice and with respect to their terroirs and traditions. We offer a few quotes from an interview with M. Lapierre in "Le Vin Au Naturel" by...

9/24/10 - (Photo: Pierre Frick) Sulfur Dioxide has been used in wine storage for centuries and in winemaking since the early 1900's. It is now considered a normal and required additive to control oxidation and bacterial contamination. In a modern winery sulfur-dioxide is added as the grapes are crushed, after the alcoholic or malolactic fermentation, at various points during the aging of a red...

9/7/10 - The following is a roughly translated interview with Pierre Overnoy conducted by Francois Morel and appearing in his excellent book "Le Vin Au Naturel," reproduced here with the kind permission of the publisher. We encourage French readers to purchase this very infomative overview of natural wine-making, (easily done through amazon.fr) as well as the wonderful quarterly magazine "le Rouge et le Blanc" edited by...

8/24/10 - Say it slowly - Tac-o-ron-te A-con-te-jo (pronounced tay-ho). Significant because??? Monje is making the wine of my moment. In a sea of potential obsessions (call me lost in the EtnaJuraSacraAosta quadrangle, otherwise known as the pursuit of the newest fermented crystalline deliciousness), this is it. This is a wine that you want to keep going back to over and over again, excavating...

7/27/10 - (Pierre Frick, photo: David Lillie) One of the most enjoyable tastings I've had recently was with Pierre and Chantal Frick - 24 unique and delicious natural wines, nine of which have just arrived at Chambers Street. The Fricks work with each vintage according to what nature brings them, so there is a great variety from year to year - a fascinating diversity...

7/7/10 - (Photo: Luis Rodriguez amongst his vines) I have sold Luis Rodriguez's “A Torna Dos Pasas” Tinto for a couple of vintages now. It seems that every buyer has a wine or two in their section that they want to stay a little quiet about – just hand sell to friends and keep it their little secret. On Super Bowl Sunday my significant other and...

6/30/10 -  It’s hard to love Rose as much as I do. For most of the year, the wines are unavailable; then, as days grow longer and temperatures rise, Roses begin to trickle in and are seized upon by the thirsty public, intoxicated by the promise of summer and in a frenzy to drink pink wine. Within a few short weeks, it seems, importers...

6/29/10 -  On occasion saying that we’ve made a ‘discovery’ is really kind of silly. In this case these wines have been around for quite a while (1889, in fact – a mere newcomer by some standards) but they’re new to us – thus a discovery. I’d been hearing about Laherte, and I ended up tasting them in Italy – at the fabulous natural...

6/22/10 -  Today is my first day back in the shop, fresh off the heels of a beautiful trip to Spain with Jose Pastor Selections.  Jose has been working tirelessly to bring to the States the kind of wines that we love here at Chambers Street – wines that are made in the vineyard with minimal intervention thereafter; wines that are pure, honest, and...