Articles

5/11/13 - Many glowing things have been written about Raphaël Bérèche: “rising star”; “one of the best young Champagne growers”, etc… and many superlatives used to describe his wines. Our own Champagne selection tells of a great affection for this Domaine’s wines. Bérèche gives us tasty Brut Reserve, and Bérèche’s Extra Brut Reserve, which receives an extra year of aging sur lie, is an...

4/30/13 - (Old vines at Domaine Chamonard)   Joseph Chamonard was one of the first growers in Morgon to adopt the ideas of Jules Chauvet and quietly made some of the greatest Beaujolais on his small estate. His daughter Genevieve and her husband Jean-Claude Chanudet took over the estate in 1990 and have continued to make small quantities of superb Morgon. Not as well...

4/26/13 -   The outstanding crop of 2012 rosés trickling in from California is a source of great pleasure and excitement.  Selecting the most interesting American wines has never been so challenging and fun, as wines of great quality continue to emerge from respected regions as well as previously-unknown pockets of vines. The wines we offer today are unique and delicious, each one expressive...

4/22/13 - (Didier in the cellar. Photo: Bert Celce/Wineterroirs.com) Meeting the Pinon family back in 1981 was a wonderful experience (we drank the 1959 Moelleux!) which led to our long association with Francois and his beautiful wines. HIs organic vineyard work and thoughtful vinifications produce some of the finest wines in Vouvray. Every year at this time, Francois sends us a little bit of...

4/17/13 - (The Schodener Herrenberg (center) as viewed from the Saarfeilser) We've been reading for years about the wines of Manfred and Claudia Loch, primarily in David Schildknecht's glowing reviews that consistently end with some variation on the phrase "sadly, Loch's wines continue to have no U.S. importer". Finally, the wines are here and we're thrilled to be the first to offer these intricate,...

4/15/13 -   In my early years in wine retail, I sold vast quantities of "brand-name" Champagnes, but I really didn't understand the phenomenon. They mostly tasted like bad wine with bubbles - with some lovely exceptions, of course. Fortunately we now have a choice of superb estate-bottled wines, from properties that work well in the vineyards and with minimal intervention in the cellar,...

4/7/13 - (Wink Lorch and Stéphane Tissot.) It’s a rare occurrence that we ask you, dear customer, to direct the energy of your wallet to something other than the bottles that grace our shelves. We are doing so today in the interest of friendship, scholarship, and the overall understanding and promotion of the wines of the Jura. I had the great privilege to meet...

4/4/13 -   Mencía first gained respect as a gateway to Spanish wine for lovers of young, juicy, high-acid reds. This offering highlights the deeper, more sumptuous side of Mencía, exemplified by the stunning single vineyard bottlings from Guímaro. The Amandi subzone of Galicia's Ribeira Sacra is home to precipitous, south-facing slate slopes, where Pedro Rodriguez and his parents farm 8 hectares organically. Prior...

4/2/13 -   The limestone hills of Saint-Aubin have been planted to vines since the third century AD. They are steep, well-drained slopes with a high concentration of clay, some of which are on the south and west slopes of the Mont Rachet, around the corner from the Grand Crus. Since Chambers Street began we have been buying the beautiful Saint-Aubins of Henri Prudhon...

3/27/13 -     Chambers Street Wines is proud to partner with Carlo Huber in making the terrific wines of Vienna available to readers of Saveur magazine. Here's a bit about the wines: Up until the late Middle Ages, vines were grown inside the ramparts of Vienna, lacing right to the centre. Todays vineyards are situated mainly on the outskirts of Vienna on the...

3/24/13 - (Thanks to Peter Liem of Champagneguide.net for the use of his picture.) In the first few minutes of a recent visit to Pascal Agrapart, a friend and sommelier described Agrapart as having, “that master of the universe thing going on,” and I knew what he meant. This description is reserved for vignerons who have figured it out - “it” - being the...

3/20/13 - (Pierre and Monique prepare for Langoustines with 1976 "L" D'Or, at Villa Mon Reve in Nantes) It was almost twenty years ago that we first encountered the superb Muscadets from Pierre and Monique Luneau-Papin, who were sharing a stand with Huet at the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers. Tasting the 1976 was quite a thrill and opened our eyes to...

3/19/13 - (Huge chunks of Porphyr in the Niederhäuser Klamm) Today we're happy to introduce Weingut Von Racknitz, a Nahe producer that has never before been sold in the United States. Winemaking here goes back a very, very long time; a monastery was founded here in the 6th century and monks likely planted vines in the 11th. It's been in the Von Racknitz family...

3/8/13 - We've written before about our love for the oft-ignored "third way" between sweet and dry Riesling, a category once described as halbtrocken, but more and more frequently referred to as feinherb (a slightly more attractive term than ‘half-dry’). To us, feinherb wines are those that fall in between what one would describe as 'technically dry' and 'noticeably sweet.' Our recommendations in this...

3/6/13 - (Chavot under a blanket of snow.) We’ve been following the progress of Laherte Frères Champagnes with keen interest for several years, since we had the good fortune to meet the talented Aurélian Laherte at a trade show in Italy. We’re drawn to these wines for their intense acidity, their long, mineral-laden finishes, and the variety of cuvées offered by this excellent Domaine....