Articles

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...

7/14/2007 - With all of the hoopla over 2005 Germany, 2005 Burgundy, 2005 Bordeaux, 2006 Austria, and 2001 Piedmont, no one is talking about the brilliance of the 2004 vintage in Tuscany, particularly for Sangiovese. 1997 is a good vintage - but too ripe for me and others. 1999 is very good -  almost like a less good version of 2004. 2001 is very...

7/6/2007 - As you may recall, Giampiero Bea, the undisputed master of Sagrantino, works with Neal Rosenthal, the great wine importer. Neal doesn’t add a lot of new wines to his already rich and varied portfolio, but when Bea introduced him to the remarkable white wine made by Cistercian nuns in Lazio, it proved irresistible. Irresistible because the wine is really good. Made from...

7/2/2007 - Until recently I had thought Vernaccia di San Gimignano was pretty dull stuff. It tasted great if you were in the neighborhood (of San Gimignano, that is), and we've always sold quite a bit to people nostalgic for their time in Tuscany, but until I met the wine from Montenidoli I would never choose it for myself. Last night we had fresh...

6/22/2007 - Tim Frohlich has been on a roll recently and he is definetly a member of the wine elite in the Nahe and maybe all of Germany. All that at the tender age of 32. Tim's wines are akin to the great master of the Nahe, Helmut Donnhoff, but they seems to have more of a juicy playfulness that gives them their own...

6/16/2007 - Simon Bize is arguably the top producer in Savigny-Les-Beaune. Granted he has some stiff competition with Chandon de Brialles, Ecard and Pavelot but in 2005 Patrick Bize crafted the wines of his life. They are absolutely stunning examples of Savigny that showcase the vintage through each of his different vineyards. The differences between the vineyards are striking in 2005 and the terroir...