Articles

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...

3/30/2022 Oliver Horiot and Denyse Louis of LDM in the vines. (Photo courtesy of LDM and John Kafarski.) The center of gravity in Champagne skews decidedly northward. Montagne de Reims, La Valée de Marne and Côte des Blancs are spoken of more frequently and likely more glowingly, than Sézanne, Montgueux, and Côtes de Bar/Aube. But there’s serious terroir in those hills and valleys of...

[A man and his vines: Olivier Lejeune (Courtesy of Grand Cru Selections)] A few weeks back my colleague David Hatzopoulos and I were tasting with a sales rep some wines that we had been allocated but unable to try on our own. As we finished up, he asked us if we would like to taste a Loire wine that he was very fond of,...

3/7/2022 The "Grand Pin" lieu-dit in Pignan We were very excited a few years ago to discover the beautiful Châteauneuf-du-Papes of Chapelle Saint-Theodoric, a project by importer Peter Weygandt with winemaker Baptiste Grangeon of Domaine du Christia. The wines are aromatically complex and lovely, not heavy or over-extracted with fabulous density and length on the palate but with lightness and elegance in a Burgundan style...

2/16/2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint Jacques (Courtesy of Louis/Dressner Selections). Though I spent some time working in Gevrey-Chambertin, I never had the opportunity to taste at Domaine Sylvie Esmonin. I've always wanted to - she has a reputation among her peers and consumers alike as thoughtful and warm and who enjoys talking about her wines. I met her only briefly when an enormous truck...

[Got this Trousseau in 750 ml... and half a dozen in magnum! Yes please!!] One of the best wines I drank in 2020 was from Alice & Olivier De Moor, the world famous winegrowing couple in Chablis - but this bottle wasn't an ethereal, limestone-edged Chardonnay. The 2016 Melting Potes VDF was a blend of Clairette and Grenache Blanc from the Languedoc and Viognier from the Ardèche. After losing most...

10/21/2021 - Nicole with a beautiful Jura white (producer site) If you look at the center of the emblem above, fixed inside that red star, you'll see "VG." Victor Gros bought Domaine de Montbourgeau in 1920, according to the producer's website, and in 1956, his son, Jean, took over. It was Jean and his daughter, Nicole Deriaux, who created the domaine as we know it today....

For many years, the annual arrival of the Daterra Viticultores wines has been celebrated by the staff at Chambers Street. Enthusiastic hand sells always follow, and soon the small allocation we receive dwindles down to a bottle or two. Before starting to write this piece about the wines, I found myself wondering why we never wrote a newsletter about this project, and the inspired...

8/6/2021 [La Cuvée 910 - Abbaye de Cluny]   With vineyards dating back to 910 AD that have been farmed organically since the 1950s, and three generations of experience vinifying without additives, Julien Guillot is producing some of the most unique and delicious natural wines of France. And he is doing so with a refreshing lack of pretension - "I want to make wines...

Over the years, the natural wine world has been developing a thirst for wines from the Auvergne, a rural region nestled in the center of France, with Clermont-Ferrand as its major city. The area is known to most French people as a great region for camping, and cheese. Indeed, the mountain ranges, and over 300 dormant Volcanos provide the setting for plenty a scenic...

[Flavien Nowack with author and Champagne lover, Yoko.] Though it’s a bit of a truism at this point, for a region dominated by big houses and co-operatives, the grower revolution in Champagne over the last 20-30 years is still remarkable as the new generation(s) continue to improve and refine viticulture, explore individual terroirs, and expand on the possibilities of the wines. The forebear of...

5/31/2021 Gilles Lafouge is the sixth generation at this 10 hectare estate in Auxey-Duresses. The domain includes excellent premier cru vineyards with old vines in Auxey-Duresses as well as small parcels in neighboring Meursault and an old-vine plot in Pommard 1er Cru Les Chanlins. There is good vineyard work here with plowing and organic composts, vinifications are with wild yeasts and the wines age...

A little over two years ago, in the Spring of 2019, I had the great pleasure of attending a lunch with Marc Hochar from Chateau Musar, Lebanon's most recognized and historic winery. I accepted the invitation because I knew the opportunity was rare to learn about the winery from one of the descendants of the founder, Gaston Hochar, and because I had only pulled...