Articles

3/8/2023 [Jon Peñagaricano points out the Akutain barrel in Haro town square (Photo: Jose Pastor Selections)] Rioja is many things. Probably the best-known wine region in Spain, it has a storied viticultural history, with the modern era of wine-making dating back to the 1850s. For most of that time, Tempranillo has been at the center of this story, and grand bodegas in the towns...

3/3/2023 It may just be me but most of my favorite things in life are generally attainable. My favorite foods are foods that I can eat from time to time, my favorite cocktail is one that I can actually order at any self respecting bar. All this is to say that Selosse may be exquisite, but my favorite Champagne is Marguet. Though I am by no...

2/22/2023 There may be a tendency to romanticize the idea of the winemaker. We imagine men and women at one with nature, the vineyard, and the wildlife around them, tending to the vines and reaping the harvest to then press Mother Nature's bounty into juice that will transform into this exquisite and thought provoking, emotional liquid. Unfortunately it's not always easy for our winemaker friends. Decades ago,...

1/23/2023 Nacho Gonzalez and the wild, ancient vineyards of Galicia Though it's always a wonderful moment when we receive new wines from La Perdida - an estate run by the passionate and humble Nacho Gonzalez in Galicia, Spain - this particular moment is worthy of word 'perfect,' as we are able to offer several wines from the 2021 vintage as well as his never-before-released parcel wines...

12/17/2022 (Sansonnière wines at a tasting in 2020) Mark Angeli of the Ferme de la Sansonnière is a paysan-vigneron, and an ecological activist. If one character can embody the wine revolution that is happening in the Loire, and more specifically in Anjou, he is without a doubt a serious contender. And his wines are also snapped up all around the world, true unicorns -...

12/15/2022 Organic farming in the Medoc at Closeries des Moussis (January 2018) Chambers Street is proud to support estates in Bordeaux that practice organic and Biodynamic farming, still unfortunately a very small minority in the region.  Today's email focuses on organic estates that also practice more natural styles of winemaking, with minimal intervention in the cellar - wild yeast fermentations, minimal new oak and...

12/2/2022 [Armand Heitz in Pommard (Courtesy of T. Edward Wines)] Talk to any serious Burgundy grower these days about what is on their mind and you will likely hear the same refrain. How does the region preserve the delicacy and balance of its wines in the face of an increasingly warm and volatile climate? They are tackling the problem head-on, adjusting long-accepted attitudes towards...

[Raphaëlle Guyot and her recent Chardonnay planting in 'Les Robinettes'] Since I started working at Chambers Street Wines in 2020, I have not been so excited for a boat to come in as I am for that which recently arrived bearing the wines of Raphaëlle Guyot, on offer today. At risk of sounding like a broken record, the past decade has been a remarkable...

10/14/2022 David Moreau (Courtesy of Michel Joly/Becky Wasserman Selections) From a viticultural standpoint, Santenay can be somewhat unforgiving. Along with its little sibling Maranges, Santenay sits at the very south end of the Cote de Beaune where the hills start to bend west and open up. The resulting wind-swept valley has always been colder and later-ripening than their northern neighbors and so in tough...

A few months back a sales rep stopped in to taste us on a bottle that set us hard on our backsides - a blend of Mencia, Trousseau and Palomino grown deep in San Luis Obispo in California. The wine was brilliant - pure and juicy and seemingly weightless. I'd never have seen this one coming but when the wine's origins were explained, everything...

[View from the Romanissa vineyard (@tomlubbe)] I can't remember the first time I met Tom Lubbe, but I will never forget him! Anyone who knows Tom will certainly understand why. He's witty, intelligent, sarcastic, thoughtful, and warm-hearted, and meeting him leaves an impression. He also happens to be a darn good winemaker! I do recall that I was in the Loire Valley when I...

8/15/2022 Years ago, back in the late 2000's, wines from a relatively unknown estate, L'Anglore, began making the rounds in Paris, and by 2010, were imported into New York by our own David Lillie and friend Phillipe “Fifi” Essome. Made by a humble beekeeper and grape-grower named Eric Pfifferling, who had been selling to the local co-op in Tavel/Lirac area until 2002, these wines...

6/28/2022 Clos du Breuil in the center, Les Bournais upper right. 2020 is another great vintage for the dry Montlouis cuvées from François and Manuela Chidaine, featuring the superb "Les Bournais," now recognized as one of the very finest Chenin Blancs of the Loire! In 1989 François discovered a mostly abandoned vineyard near a cliff overlooking the Loire called "Les Bournais" named after a...

6/13/2022 [Gilles Lafouge in the new cellar] While value is relative in the ever more expensive world of Burgundy, perhaps no grower offers as much value as Gilles Lafouge. The wines are precise, honest and satisfying at prices that allow for (nearly) everyday drinking as well as cellaring beautifully. John Gilman's excellent View From the Cellar concurs:     Not surprisingly, for folks who...

[Christine and Gerard Villet in the vineyards.] About 8 years ago, I visited the Christine and Gerard Villet in Arbois for the first time. We met at the Foire Eco Bio in Colmar, which I believe is still the largest organic fair in Western Europe, complete with composting toilets, cheese, beer, clothes, spices, wines, bike powered concerts - literally every organic thing you could...