Slow Food NYC Snail of Approval. Chambers Street Wines has been selected as one of the first recipients of the Slow Food NYC Snail of Approval, for our contributions to the quality, authenticity and sustainability of the food we eat and the beverages we drink in the city of New York.
David received his wine education schlepping cases for 15 years at Garnet Wines, one of NY’s leading discount shops on the Upper East Side. As a buyer and manager he was able to develop his interest in French wines, especially those of the Loire, Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon. His two previous careers, growing apples in Vermont for 4 years and with a jazz orchestra for 15 years, left him with a fanatical dedication to good, inexpensive wine. His heroes in the wine business are Mark Ollivier, Catherine Roussel and François Pinon, to name just a few. David's wife first introduced him to Loire Valley wines back in 1977, and they have three quite grown children, Georgia, Eben and Julia. He would like to thank Eben, who was part of Chambers Street in the beginning and whose hard work and good cheer helped us through the months after 9/11.
David Lillie's Reccommendations
Le Clos Guillot is a beautiful south-east facing vineyard, just east of the town of Chinon, above the Clos de l'Olive and adjacent to Le Chene Vert. The upper slope of the parcel is clay over limestone (the lower part has sand over the rock, permitting a tiny separate production from franc de pied vines) and the vines are young, planted from 1993 to 2000. We have been buying this wine since it's first production in 2000 - it's one of the most elegant and Burgundian of Chinons and in the 2010 vintage it has reached a level of quality putting it among the very finest reds of the Loire. Bernard and Matthieu Baudry are skilled, intelligent winemakers whose vineyard work and harvesting are exemplary, and whose careful vinifications seem to perfectly express the quite different terroirs of Chinon. The 2010 vintage in Chinon gave wines with a bit less alcohol and density than the excellent 2009s, but they have perfect acidity, great purity of fruit and a bit more terroir presence - in other words an excellent vintage, especially chez Baudry. The 2010 Clos Guillot is a deep red/purple color with astonishingly bright, pure and complex floral red fruit aromas. The palate is bright, pure and very long with slightly peppery red and black fruits. The Baudrys did a longer elevage for this vintage, 15 months in 3 to 7 year-old Burgundy barrels. (Case price $25.19 per bottle)
This is a brilliant Muscadet from a great hillside parcel of old vines belonging to Remy Branger's family. The wine spent 30 months on the lees and carries the new Cru Communal label of Chateau-Thébaud. Here we have the richness of the 2009 vintage but with lovely balance and acidity. The granite of Chateau-Thebaud is more porous and fractured than that of Clisson, allowing the roots easier access to water, giving a more balanced wine in a year of hydric stress. The wine has elegant white fruit, citrus and stone aromas with less fat and more freshness than the Clisson. At 12% alcohol, the palate is lively and very mineral with hints of citrus, pear and spice. This is delicious now but will age beautifully for 20 years and more....
Super-Bon! A nice vintage for PIF, faithful mouse-hunter and vineyard companion at Clos Roche Blanche. A blend of Cot, Cab Franc and Pineau d'Aunis, it has pretty red and black fruit aromas, and a lovely medium-bodied palate with good acidity and length. Refreshing and thirst-quenching at 12 degrees alcohol, jut the way we like it. Don't delay, quantity is limited...
Another great effort from the Luneau-Papin family, and not much stock remains of this excellent vintage. This has fantastic stony weight on the palate with lovely lemon, thyme, anise, mushroom and mineral flavors. A beautfully balanced wine that is a joy to drink now but in 10 years it will be fantastic!
A great Muscadet by Jo Landron coming from an organic vineyard on clay and sand over a sub-soil of gneiss, rich in iron and quartz and quite high in acidity. Kept on the lees for 12 months. Lime-flower, bitter melon and sea-air aromas, hints of licorice and citrus on the palate with bracing acids and minerality. This will drink beautifully young with fish and shellfish but will benefit from 5 to 10 years of aging, when it will accompany richer dishes. Our new shipment (04/18) is from the second bottling, and is showing even better, with terrific length and density on the palate. Did we say that the price is ridiculously, even embarrassingly low, as Landron's great work deserves a much higher price...
Wow, this is superb! Beautiful exotic fruit, floral and spice aromas, silky palate with a long lingering spicy finish. Ripe but not cloying at all, actually quite dry at only 4.6 gr/RS. A terrific aperitif, great with Asian foods, full-flavored cheeses...
The Barou family family makes delicious wines, and grows cherries and apricots, on their mixed-use organic estate in the hills around Saint-Joseph and Condrieu. Their 2011 Vin de Pays Marsanne is a sensational value! Beautiful aromas of lemon, exotic fruits, butter and hay with a hint of caramel. The palate is rich and ripe but with good acidity, showing apricot, pear and citrus fruits with a bit of smoky minerality in the finish. Really a lovely wine that will compliment full-flavored fish and poultry dishes and it's and amazing bargain at $11.99!
From 60 year-old Marsanne vines on a steep granite slope adjacent to Les Picaudieres. Creamy lemon and exotic fruit aromas with white fruits and hay. The palate is firm and full with mineral notes and earthy white fruits. Terrific length with good acidity. This is lovely now but will probably be best in 3 to 5 years - really a great value!
(From a steep terraced vineyard in Gervans, granite with some clay/limestone, vines averaging 60 years-old, certainly one of the best sites in the appellation. Aged 16 months, 30% foudre, 70% burgundy barrels, new to 7 year-old) Fabulous aromas of black fruits with hints of olive, smoke and garrigue. The palate is dense, not heavy, with a core of mineral acidity that lifts the fruit. Great balance for a 2009 and obviously built to age. Peak drinking perhaps at 5 to 15 years. Highly recommended.
In Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban, a village on the opposite side of the Rhône from Brézème in the Ardeche, Eric found vineyards in massale selection, never treated with chemicals, including a tiny plot of old vine Serine on micaschist and marne soils. We tasted the 2010 last winter before bottling - Very pretty, quite complex red fruit, citrus and floral aromas, black fruits on the palate, dark and deep with terrific length. Great balance and acidity, light on it's feet, this will age well. Lovely! ("No sulphur needed. Therefore no sulphur added. But THIS IS NOT A NO SULFUR WINE BY DESIGN, for Bacchus sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!No carbonic @#$%, no reductive ageing, no extended lees contact no addition of CO2... This is a traditional whole cluster syrah from decomposed granite in the Northern Rhone, bottled without sulphur. Period." - Eric)
Another superb effort from the Bravay family at Domaine Ferrand. This all-Syrah cuvee is from a tiny parcel of old vines and only 50 cases are available for the US. The aromas are remarkably complex with bright plum, red fruits, roast meats and intriguing hints of mint, tea and coffee. The deep black and red fruits on the palate have a refreshing lift despite the 14 degrees of alcohol, and the finish lingers on ripe, earthy fruit confit. A fabulous Rhone wine at a reasonable price which will drink beautifully over the next three to five years. Very highly recommended!
This is a delicious vin doux naturel from Thierry Navarre made from very late-harvested Grenache. We imagine that it's a wine made the way wine used to me made all over the Languedoc before temperature control was an option. Sweet and somewhat sherry-like, the aromas are of prune and ripe cherry, with licorice and brown spice. Very long and nutty on the palate, perhaps the best way to imagine this wine is to think of an Oloroso sherry... then extrapolate! Absolutely delicious and a great accompaniment to chocolate, fruit tarts, dried fruits or simply by itself as an aperitif. Thanks to Thierry for finally making a label and shipping us some of this unique local specialty.
Braucol (or Fer-Servadou if you're in Marcillac) is the grape variety used for this lovely biodynamic wine from our friends at Mayragues. Aromas of earthy black cherry and plum with violets. The palate is medium-bodied, fairly soft and supple with bright red currant, plum and blackberry fruit with nice length. This is a unique and food-friendly red, best served cool and it's a great value!
From four parcels in Morey, below the village, with vines averaging about 50 years of age. Lovely transparent red color, fresh wild strawberry and tart cherry fruit with earthy herbal hints. Real grip on the palate which is medium to light-bodied but with great intensity of meaty red fruits, herbs and spice with zingy chalky citrusy acids, really perfectly balanced. 2010 seems to be a superb vintage for the Magniens - there is no lack of fruit but it's contained in a relatively lean frame with good acidity. Great length and persistence of fruit in the finish. A beautiful wine that can certainly be enjoyed young but will age very well.
A light and aromatic Pinot Noir, made from old vines of the small-berried "pinot fin" variety. Extremely floral with blackberry and high-toned red fruits. Dark and earthy, light on the palate but with intense fruit expression at the same time. The finish is very long, this should age beautifully. This is a truly unique and delicious wine, 60 bottles available.
Trapped between Georges Descombes and Jean-Claude Chanudet (of Domaine Chamonard) at a tasting last winter, the tasting rapidly became a drinking and notebooks disappeared. What remains are the memories of a superb and elegant wine which we'll re-taste under more controlled conditions as soon as possible. However, with wines like this one doesn't want to control the conditions....
Deep aromas of blackberry and strawberry confit with herbal and citrus notes continue on the deep but bright palate, which is complex and very long, finishing with fruit liqueur and good acidity. This is certainly one of the top wines of the vintage and will benefit from mid-term aging.
A refreshing and delicious "wine of nature" by Christophe Foucher, bottled by hand without filtration or sulfites, organic farming. Slightly cloudy pale gold with floral, citrus, nettle and white fruit aromas. Herbal citrus and earthy flavors on the palate, with tingly, juicy acids in the finish. Devolps nicely with aeration and a few days, re-corked, in the fridge. A complex and intriguing Sauvignon that will accompany pates, shellfish, goat cheeses and much more, and goes down very easy on it's own. Fabulous value, too!
I grew up drinking French wine, but had a real epiphany with a bottle of Robert Chevillon's 1985 Nuits Chaignots. Eight years of owning a house in the central Loire Valley (in Touraine, near Cheverny), gave me a chance to get to know both the region and the feeling of living with wine, and also gave me the confidence to propose forming a partnership with M. Loire himself, David Lillie. Before meeting David, I spent five years in the salt mines of Christie's Wine Department - a somewhat thankless job made fabulous by the incredible range of mature wine, mostly Bordeaux, that I tasted on the job. My subsequent discovery of the natural affinity between Burgundy and Piedmont has produced a serious Nebbiolo problem, though Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, and Chablis will usually make me sit up and take notice. There's so much good wine in this store that it's getting hard to choose.
Sophie worked in kitchens throughout her college career in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At her third restaurant, she took an active role in wine evaluation and became curious about wine and its crucial role at the table. After leaving the restaurant world, Sophie began selling wine at A Southern Season, one of the southeast’s leading retailers specializing in old world wine. As her passion developed, she began to dream of relocation to New York and immersion in the rich food and wine culture of the metropolis and she eventually effectuated the move. After a year as the assistant wine buyer at Astor Wines and Spirits, Sophie was offered an opportunity to become part of Chambers Street, a store that she had, for years, admired from afar. In addition to a deep love of Cru Beaujolais, Sophie has a particular fondness for wines of the Jura and the Languedoc and has spent time in both regions.
After working as a chef and then a baker in Rhode Island, she joined the Pier House Hotel as Sommeliere and then became the manager of the Cafe at Louie's Backyard, both in Key West, Florida. She has represented the Lenz, Palmer and Paumanok wineries in North Fork, Long Island. In 1997, she received the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma from the International Wine Center where she has also taught the class "Aromas of Wine". She is currently teaching the Wine & Spirit Education Trust: Intermediate, Advanced Certificates and Diploma classes. Candela is also the Professor of Wine Instruction for the Hospitality Department at the New York School of Technology. She is a Certified Wine Educator from Society of Wine Educators, Washington, DC. In Key West, Florida she is the Wine Educator for Louie's Backyard Restaurant, she teaches wine classes at the Restaurant Store, and writes a seasonal wine column for Solares Hil. At Chambers Street Wines she selects the Spanish and Portuguese wines and she is available to conduct corporate, public and private wine events.
Chris is a graduate from the French Culinary Institute's Classic Culinary Arts and Essentials of Restaurant Management programs and has always had a passion for food and wine. He started working in kitchens at the age of 16 working his way up from washing pots to cooking in seasonally inspired Italian and California cuisine restaurants in California, Oregon, Washington, and recently here at NY Times 2 Star, August Restaurant in the West Village. In 2001, Chris took a sabbatical from cooking finding that he had a talent for selling coffee and tea and producing artisanal coffee drinks for industry leading coffee companies in Chicago and New York, most recently with Joe the Art of Coffee in the West Village. This love for tasting and selling artisanal products led him to working behind a charcuterie counter at a wine store, cheesemongering and beer buying for Whole Foods Market, and now working in his current position in sales here at Chambers Street Wines.
Chris Barnes's Reccommendations
(From a steep terraced vineyard in Gervans, granite with some clay/limestone, vines averaging 60 years-old, certainly one of the best sites in the appellation. Aged 16 months, 30% foudre, 70% burgundy barrels, new to 7 year-old) Fabulous aromas of black fruits with hints of olive, smoke and garrigue. The palate is dense, not heavy, with a core of mineral acidity that lifts the fruit. Great balance for a 2009 and obviously built to age. Peak drinking perhaps at 5 to 15 years. Highly recommended.
Frankly, I don't often buy rosé wine from the Roussillon because it is often fruity and high in alcohol. As someone who prefers the drier, steelier styles from the Loire, and Burgundy, and the saline, delicate rosés from Provence, Grenache based rosé can feel heavy. On the other hand, when well-made and native yeast fermented, these darker, more red wine-like pink wines can have beautiful authenticity and sense of place. Eric Laguerre's rosé is made from 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah. Like the white, this rosé is matured in barrel for eight months but shows no hints of barrel on the nose or palate. There's a sense of deep sweetness to the fruit, but the palate remains crisp at a modest 13% alcohol. The aromas and flavors are of sweet cherries and cranberries and, as with the white from Laguerre, this rosé will improve open in your fridge over a day or two. -msb
We are very excited to have the first ever 750 ml bottling of Colline Inspirée at Chambers Street Wines! Previously this wine was only bottled in magnum. From vines that are all over 45 years old, the wine comes from three parcels in Montgueux and is partially fermented in barrel. The name means "inspired hill" and was taken from a poem. There's more masculine character and structure to this wine than there is to Le Cotet, broad mid-palate weight, a hint of smoke and spice, a firm spine, and good potential to age. The ripeness and intensity of the fruit match the oak used in the élèvage. A great wine. -msb
Non-Discountable
My professional wine education began in the early eighties as the sommelier at Chez Maria, a French Vietnamese restaurant in Georgetown. It was one of the very first wine bars in the country, and its proprietor, Roger Grison, taught me about regional French wine and Indochinese food. After that experience, I was hooked. Many wine bars and retail outlets later I find myself here at Chambers Street Wines. I am an enthusiastic amateur chef who strives to achieve harmony between food and wine. Every year I travel to different vineyards to taste. There is one place I consider my home away from home: Burgundy, one of the most terroir driven of all wine regions. Wine is an immense subject and a matter of personal taste. It's an endless debate with no absolute answers, a truly delicious and invigorating intellectual and gustatory challenge everyday.
John Beaver Truax's ReccommendationsJohn offers, “When I first took a job at Chambers Street Wines over three years ago, I had no idea that I would still be here now. I first applied as a stock and delivery worker in the back room. Before long I was completely entranced with the world of natural wine. Finding wines like Stephane Guion's Bourgueil for $10.99 showed me that wine could be honest, delicious, and not only affordable to well-to-do bankers. From there I was hooked on the fresh and complex flavors of natural wines of the Loire.” It did not take long to amass a library of books, branching out to Beaujolais, the Mosel, Piedmont, Sicily, Burgundy, and the Rhone, and before long, John was hooked. John also buys all of the spirits, and assists in purchasing for other areas of the store. In January of 2010 John had the opportunity to travel to the Loire Valley and Beaujolais with the wonderful people of LDM Imports, and then in 2011 and 2012 has visited many of Italy’s most famous regions. A growing obsession with spirits has even led him to the far-flung islands of Jura and Islay to visit some of the world’s greatest distilleries.
John Rankin's Reccommendations
Named after the impressive mountain range in the Southwestern corner of the Marche, this spirit is a must-try for Amaro fans. The flavor profile definitely leans toward the drier, more herbaceous end of the spectrum and will seem quite bitter if you are used to Averna or Montenegro. The botanicals are wood smoked before maceration which adds a degree of complexity seldom found in Amari. Mountain honey is used sparingly to balance the bitter flavors. I have found Sibillia to be a delicious digestive, but also quite delightful at the shore when mixed with tonic and an orange rind. JR
Non-Discountable
This is a brilliant Muscadet from a great hillside parcel of old vines belonging to Remy Branger's family. The wine spent 30 months on the lees and carries the new Cru Communal label of Chateau-Thébaud. Here we have the richness of the 2009 vintage but with lovely balance and acidity. The granite of Chateau-Thebaud is more porous and fractured than that of Clisson, allowing the roots easier access to water, giving a more balanced wine in a year of hydric stress. The wine has elegant white fruit, citrus and stone aromas with less fat and more freshness than the Clisson. At 12% alcohol, the palate is lively and very mineral with hints of citrus, pear and spice. This is delicious now but will age beautifully for 20 years and more....
Founded in 1977 by husband-and-wife microbiologists Terrence and Frances Leighton, Kalin Cellars is one of California's great treasures. Relatively unknown despite critical acclaim and a singular house style, Kalin's vast cellar and disciplined releases guarantee that we can enjoy their vibrant, textured reds and glamorous, lees-y, unfiltered whites for many years to come (albeit in tiny doses). We ordered a few bottles of 1999 Semillon in the hope that we might find some folks who would want to chat about the austere gravelly soils of Livermore Valley or off-beat, age-worthy Californian whites. To our delight, it has since sold swiftly and elicited rave reviews! The nose is a comely collision of apricot, orange blossom, clarified butter, corn flakes in buttermilk, and a vintage Bollinger Bellini. Bamboo shoots, sweet corn, breakfast oats and and a bold mineral core of limey rocks sink into the palate with intense apricot flesh and rich, sappy orange blossom honey (the vinous, bone-dry version). This wine simply could not be more interesting or better tasting. -AR
We were thrilled with this wine when we tasted it last May (and again last week); it is a very pretty and pure expression of Etna, very bright, aromatic with cherry, earth and lava, herbs and flowers. Our friend Robert tasted and said “Fresh Etna!” and it really is – an elegant and feminine Nerello, and at a great price for quality.
The slightly tart aspect of good Nerello will work well on Thanksgiving, even with cranberry.
In Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban, a village on the opposite side of the Rhône from Brézème in the Ardeche, Eric found vineyards in massale selection, never treated with chemicals, including a tiny plot of old vine Serine on micaschist and marne soils. We tasted the 2010 last winter before bottling - Very pretty, quite complex red fruit, citrus and floral aromas, black fruits on the palate, dark and deep with terrific length. Great balance and acidity, light on it's feet, this will age well. Lovely! ("No sulphur needed. Therefore no sulphur added. But THIS IS NOT A NO SULFUR WINE BY DESIGN, for Bacchus sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!No carbonic @#$%, no reductive ageing, no extended lees contact no addition of CO2... This is a traditional whole cluster syrah from decomposed granite in the Northern Rhone, bottled without sulphur. Period." - Eric)
Originally hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, John (appropriately named among the four Johns working at CSW) wasn't bitten by the wine bug until moving far from Northern California and its world-famous, wine-producing counties. After time spent studying music in sunny Los Angeles and chilly Rochester, NY, he moved to the city to pursue a career in music but found wine retail to be much more profitable and stable (as well as an industry that isn't involved in a long-term implosion). After exploring low-end retail, high-end retail, really high-end auction houses and other various wine niches, he has found a suitable home at Chambers Street. Here his geekier inclinations and passions for both wine and music are not only tolerated but actually encouraged, and he couldn't be happier. He continues to play saxophone around town as much as he can and loves his wife very much. John is also the buyer for the German and Austrian sections at Chambers Street Wines.
John Ritchie's Reccommendations
Erwin Tinhof organically farms 11 hectares in Eisenstadt, on the west side of the Neusiedlersee. So far, this gets our vote for best Austrian Rosé of the vintage, a category in which there's generally pretty stiff competition. Hand harvested, fermented with native yeasts and 100% Blaufränkisch, this has bright flavors of strawberries and cream but is well-structured with a firm, steely backbone. This will be my go-to rosé for the summer months, for sure. -jfr
2010 is a great vintage for Les Grezeaux, perhaps even better than the superb 2009. Baudry's two cuvees on predominantly gravel terroirs, Les Granges and Les Grezeaux, seem perfectly balanced in this less-ripe vintage, and the old vines in Les Grezeaux have yielded a beautiful wine. The aromas are complex and lovely with floral red and black fruits, the palate is balanced, earthy and long with ripe strawberry, cherry and black fruits that are persisitent and balanced with a super refreshing finish. Les Grezeaux is a precocious wine, always enjoyable in its youth, and yet there is acidity and strucure here that will allow long term aging, as the happy owners of the great 1989 - still drinking beautifully - can attest to. This wine is very highly recommended - it will bring great pleasure for many years and is a beautiful example of the great work being done by Bernard and Matthieu Baudry and family. (Case price $23.39 per bottle)
Viña Caneiro is from a single vineyard of 80 year old vines, planted on slate, located in the impossibly steep Amandi sub-zone of Ribeira Sacra. Although listed at 14% abv. on the front label, this is not ripe or hot at all. In fact, this is medium bodied at most and shows the clarity and pedigree of this great vintage. Aromatically this reminds me of Pinot Noir with high-toned cranberry/raspberry red fruit, touches of cassis, and a wonderful lifting spicy floral quality. The palate is silky and pure with excellent length. Beautiful wine! cb
Following lengthy stints in academic libraries and freelance web development, Stephanie’s culinary inclinations rose to the fore after chance exposure to single-estate chocolate in Cambridge, MA. She subsequently spent several years working as a chocolate buyer in Chapel Hill, NC while honing her tempering and emulsifying chops; though her tempestuous affair with chocolate eventually led to separation, her unwillingness to sever ties with terroir led to a natural transition into the wine industry. She worked at Astor Wines & Spirits for two years as Rare & Artisanal Wine Consultant. She currently helps to source old vintages for Chamber Street Wines and has become the wizard behind everything tech. She continues to experiment with macarons and confiserie in her Brooklyn kitchen.
