Articles

[The quietly assured Thomas Perseval presenting his beautiful Champagnes in Reims.] One of the joys of working with grower Champagnes is the process of discovery. Whereas the big houses can make very good wines (though more often than not, farming leaves a lot to be desired), even at their best they can be a bit predictable. Over the past few years watching a new...

1/28/2021 Michel Théron and Stéphanie Destruhaut, the couple behind the Bordeaux estate that is often referred to simply as Jaugueyron, have long provided some of our favorite Left Bank, Cab-heavy reds. The Chambers crew was giddy when our latest allocation came through the door earlier this January.  As expected, the wines are brilliant. Welcome to the Médoc, through the lens of Jaugueyron - wines defined by youthful accessibility, along...

[Lamole on rainy May day] Great news for lovers of the best, classically-styled Chianti Classico: i Fabbri is back. The wines have been absent from New York for quite a few years; now, thanks to Jeff Porter*, these beauties of Lamole are once again for sale (and back on our dinner table!).Lamole is, so far, my favorite place in Chianti. Miles up a winding...

[Roberto Henriquez (photo: T. Edward Wines and Spirits)] Vitis vinifera, the Eurasian wine grape, arrived in Chile in the 16th century. The grapes that arrived were either Pais or the common ancestor it shares with California’s Mission, the Listán Prieto of the Canary Islands, and a set of other red varieties closely connected to the history of Spanish colonialism in the Atlantic and the...

[Vigneron Fabrice Gass opening a bottle of Cuvée Speciale  in one of the prettiest spots in Damery.] While there are a multitude of fascinating growers in Champagne (and quite a few characters), one of our absolute favorites is the singular Fabrice Gass from the tiny house Alexandre Filaine in Damery. Thoughtful and without pretense, Fabrice makes memorable wines in the manner Champagne was produced...

[Jean Louis Trapet in the cellar (Courtest of Clay Harpending of Polaner Selections)] In every village up and down the Cote D'Or, there are families whose names are seemingly eternal fixtures. In Santenay there are the Bellands and in Meursault the Moreys. There are the D'Angervilles of Volnay and the Leflaives in Puligny. In Nuits Saint Georges there is the Gouges family and the...

[A profile of Steve Matthiasson, photo from T. Edwards Wines.com] The wines of Steve and Jill Matthiasson are as steadfast and unassuming as the couple themselves. Steve is a bit of a legend in California, having co-authored the California manual on sustainable vineyard practices in 1999, and consulted for or mentored many successful winegrowers since. Jill, who runs the business side, has also dedicated...

8/26/2020 (Virginie Moreau examining a sample (photo courtesy of Grand Cru Selections)) I was recently asked by a friend if I could remember the bottle of Burgundy from which there was no escape. I replied "Of course I can." (For the record, every Burgundy maven who has gone well and truly down the rabbit hole can remember THAT BOTTLE.) For me, it was an...

[Chisa Bize.  (Courtesy of Grand Cru Selections)] We at Chambers Street have always been soft targets when it comes to the wines of Domaine Simon Bize in Savigny-Les-Beaune. Over the course of several generations, they have produced some of the truly definitive wines of Savigny-les-Beaune - soulful, full of pure fruit and minerality. I count amongst my formative wine memories a number of Bize...

7/22/2020 More and more we are hearing interest from our community in "natural wines" and wines without the addition of sulfur. Though the term "natural wine" is still largely up for debate, generally it is accepted that the wine should have very low to no amounts of added SO2. Sulfur dioxide is a naturally occurring by-product of fermention, thus a wine with no added...

[Sven Enderle (Left) and Florian Moll (Right) - Photo courtesy J. Ritchie/ Vom Boden] "I'm a free man and I do what I want to do, and so we are a free winery." - Sven EnderleI think this is a very apt summary of the work of Enderle & Moll; founded on a collective opposition to the commercial winemaking practices of the Baden region....

(NOTE: Now a laureate of “Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France - Sommellerie” and Best French Sommelier, Chambers Street Wines is extremely proud to present this article by our good friend and neighbor at Racines NY, Pascaline Lepeltier. In 2014, Pascaline passed the Master Sommelier Diploma, and in 2018, she won 2 more major titles in her homeland: shemelier 2018. In January 2019, the...

[In the vineyards of Guímaro. The slopes of Ribeira Sacra are no joke! (Photo courtesy Jose Pastor Selections)] The Atlantic-inflected white and red wines of the Spanish northwest are special and unique. In all of the wines we are offering today, there's a lift and sense of freshness that distinguishes them from wines of other regions, and a seam of minerality that connects them...

1/23/2020 In the vines at Sant'Or (courtesy Aris Soultanos, Eklektikon) I have been fascinated with the wines of Greece this year. The Greek mainland and the Greek isles have an incredibly long and storied viticultural history, with a multitude of indigenous grape varieties, varied traditional methods of production, and a staggering number of individual microclimates and terroirs. Wine is made throughout the majority of...

[Of all the bright young growers in Champagne, perhaps one of the most compelling is Aurelien Suenen of Cramant] There's a great deal to admire in the Champagnes and ethic of Aurelien Suenen. His wines combine beautiful fruit with a frank minerality in a graceful way. This results from conscientious farming (Suenen has been in transition to organic certification since 2009) and deft work...