Articles

Rosé season is upon us and our favorite Provençal rosé has arrived, from our friends at Les Fouques. For lovers of the Northern Rhone we offer a superb Cornas and great values from Saint-Joseph and Condrieu. Plus Biodynamic Jurançon from Chateau Lapuyade, and some favorite Loire Valley whites have arrived as well... ----------------------------------------------------------- Domaine les Fouques, Provence Since the 2010 vintage it has been...

After running one of the most important wine restaurants in Paris (Le Café de la Nouvelle Mairie), Nicolas Carmarans decided to sell off his business to go back to his roots and revive the vineyards of his grand-parents in Le Bruel, a little hamlet lost in Aveyron. 5th largest department in France, Aveyron is one of the most isolated, mostly populated by sheep and...

Cesanese is the most important red grape in Lazio (the region around Rome). Cesanese was the house wine in many Roman trattorias in the 1970s and 1980s; it could be pretty crude, but we have fond memories of lively wines that went perfectly with carbonara and saltimbocca. We’ve tasted many recent attempts to revive and "improve" Cesanese that were over-extracted, over-oaked, international-style wines that...

Though I would consider myself a relative novice of Italian white wines, I've heard that Verdicchio can produce some of the finest white wines of Italy, and can attest to trying some impressive examples over the years. Of the ones I've tried, the wines of La Marca di San Michele have always been standouts. A couple of years ago, we sent out an offer...

Today’s email features superb natural wines, with zero additives, from La Graine Sauvage and Peira Levada in Faugeres as well as the unique wines of Thomas Finot, both from the Coteaux du Grésivaudan in the Chartreuse mountains and from Crozes-Hermitage in the Northern Rhone. And please join us at 79 Chambers Street to meet and taste with Reol Beaufort of Champagne Andre Beaufort this...

Domaine Guion was created by Stéphane Guion's father in the 1950's and was certified organic beginning in 1965. The estate's 8 hectares are all in Benais mostly on Turonien limestone with varied depths of clay topsoil. Only 15% of the vines are on gravel topsoil, in "La Ruée," used primarily for the rosé and a small amount in the Cuvée Domaine. The parcels are just...

2023 was a complicated vintage in the Loire Valley with periods of high heat and heavy rainfall making things difficult for the winemakers. Weather during flowering was excellent however, bringing the potential for good quantities, and weather at the end of September into October was sunny and dry bringing ripeness and balance to the Cabernet Franc grapes of Chinon and Bourgueil. Tasted before bottling,...

Some truly exciting Chenin Blanc's have just arrived, from established domains that practice impecccable Biodynamic and organic farming and natural vinifications, creating white wines at the highest levels of quality from superb limestone/clay/silex terroirs. These are indeed three of the world's greatest producers of Chenin Blanc! Domaine Bellivière  Eric and Christine Nicolas, wih their son Clement, make some of the worlds most elegant Chenin...

We're ecstatic to have the elegant, complex and amazingly delicious Poirés and Cidre from Jerome Forget back in the store - with the new added attraction of his superb Apéritif de Poire "Pyrus!" Ferme de L'Yonnière is just south of Domfront in Brittany, east of Mont Saint-Michel and has about 15 hectares of pasture, apple trees and ancient high-branched pear trees. This tiny region...

The Caslot family of Domaine de la Chevalerie, like the Baudrys in Chinon or the Gonons in Saint-Joseph, possesses the skill, intelligence, committment and just plain magic that captures their beautiful terroir and great farming in the bottle for our enjoyment. "Wine has no value unless it is shared" is the Caslot's motto and we couldn't agree more - it gives us great pleasure...

We'll keep today's offer short and sweet: here are two delicious Corsican reds! As we slowly repopulate our shelves and make sure the obscure grapes and regions of the wine world are represented again at Chambers Street, it seemed only right to put some Corsican wines on the shelf (to be fair, Corsica is not really that obscure, but it is often forgotten when...

4/3/24 - We will admit that the title of this newsletter could be misleading, since Kenny is not wearing any hats in the photo from his recent visit to Chambers Street, but we can explain! The hats he wears are in the form of several wine labels that he has developed since his first adventures in winemaking over 20 years ago. From his humble...

Before moving to our new digs at 79 Chambers Street, our last staff tasting at 148 Chambers Street was with Luigi Tecce, the charismatic winemaker from Campania (who until this release bottled his wines under the Taurasi DOCG). I had very little experience with the wines, aside from seeing them on the shelf on and off over the last 23 years, and I will...

4/1/24 - 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...

3/31/24 - The pundits on the vintages, and I've added some notes: 1960: Ratti, Annata Non Buona; Wasserman 0. The decade starts with a fizzle. I remind you of the sentimental value of old wine for birth year and anniversary celebrations, alla my own year of 1956, which was decidedly Non Buono (for wine), but is nonetheless a pleasure to drink. I don’t recall...