Shop

These days we see a number of close-outs and other discounted offers from importers, but few are for wines we actually admire - the last one here that you may recall was the ridiculously low-priced Ducroux Cote Rotie; now we’ve found another: Trabucchi 2002 Amarone Cereolo. Trabucchi is an organic estate, and low yields (about half of what’s permitted) and natural yeast fermentations contribute to the depth and purity of their wines. The wine has plenty of classic Amarone character – rich, full-bodied, redolent of spice and dried fruit. The 2002 vintage may be a bit lighter than some, with the real advantage is that the wine is fresher and brighter than many heavy Amarones that are so tough to pair with food. We are certainly in high Amarone season – the wine will go beautifully with any number of winter dishes. This week we are partnering with our friends at Snooth.com to get the word out; as their resident wine expert Greg Dal Piaz writes: “Simply put, this is great Amarone, and a great deal”.

Thanks to the generosity of our customers and suppliers , our benefit last Saturday for earthquake victims in Haiti raised more than $7,500! And a special thanks to Joe Dressner of Louis/Dressner Selections for getting it started. If you'd like to donate, click on Stand With Haiti on the right side of the page - Partners in Health has been in Haiti for over 20 years and is one of the best providers of health care for the poor around the world.

We're still taking calls from Beaujolais fans hoping for more of the 2007 Charly Thevenet Grain et Granit, surely one of the most beautiful wines of the vintage. The 2008 has just arrived and it's a stunning wine in the same style as the 2007, perhaps with a little extra richness as the month of September featured sunshine and north winds which dried and concentrated the grapes. Limited quantity so don't delay. From Christian Ducroux in Regnie, we've just received his 2009 Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau Sans Souffre! Certified Bio since 1985, Ducroux has mastered the art of wine-making without sulfur, producing wines of great aromatic complexity, completely expressive of the granitic terroir. He is one of the most advanced practioners of Biodynamic wine-making and we are honored to have his unique Beaujolais at Chambers Street!

Charming, transparent, refined, pure and elegant. These words keep cropping up in the reports on the 2007 Red Burgundy vintage. Allen Meadows of burghound.com says, "They convey an underlying sense of terroir better than any vintage since 2001 and if one had to try to encapsulate the character of 2007 by comparing it to another vintage, a blend of 2000 & 2001 would accurately sum them up..." These wines have the soft fruit and ripe tannins of the 2000 vintage combined with the spine of acidity of 2001 - these factors combine to create a tension in the wines that gives them a certain lift and liveliness. From the Bourgogne Rouge up to the Grand Crus these wines are forward and pretty and show well in their youth and will age gracefully for years. We think that this is a classic vintage for mid-term drinking - not a "big" vintage, it is a refined vintage. It will not go into hibernation for years like the 2005s have. Burgundy in particular is a wine of delicacy and finesse, not of over extraction and density. In the 2007s there is a real sense of place, the Volnays smell and taste and act like Volnays, the Chambolles fairly scream Chambolle and Gevrey Chambertin has the oyster shell and limestone minerality that we associate with Chambertin.


Domaine Bachelet in Gevrey Chambertin - 3.83 hectares owned by the domaine. Clive Coates in his new book "The Wines of Burgundy" awards the Domaine Denis Bachelet three stars, the highest rating he awards any domaine, even though there is only one small parcel of Grand Cru. Bachelet is a tiny domaine and every year I am excited when we get our allocation of Denis Bachelet's wines - "...harmonious, pure and understated" says Coates - these are among our most favorite Burgundies.

Terroir in the AOC Muscadet Sevre et Maine is largely a story of granite, resulting from a billion-year-old upswelling of molten rock called the Massif Armoricain. Some of this granite remains near the surface where it has weathered to unique nutrient-rich clays, in other areas it has been changed into metamorphic schists and gneiss giving somewhat lighter soils. Since 1984, Marc Ollivier has been producing some of the finest wines in the Loire Valley, primarily from vineyards on the granitic soils around Maisdon-sur-Sevre and Clisson. The most complex and long-aging Muscadets are produced from granite terroirs, such as Michel Bregeon's "Cuvee Gorgeois", Guy Bossard's "Expression de Granite," Luneau-Papin's "L d'Or" - and Marc’s "Clos des Briords" (from old vines on Granite de Chateau Thebault, first produced in 1988). Growers around the town of Clisson who have vineyards on the unique, very dense stone of the area have petitioned the INAO for "Cru Communal" status, reflecting their unusual soils and involving stringent quality standards, and in 2005 Marc produced his first "Granite de Clisson" from a plot of 60 to 90 year-old vines in the Pepiere vineyard. Aged on the lees for 24 months, the wine possesses fantastic depth and aromatic complexity and will benefit from 10 to 15 years of aging. (Paradoxically, it cannot be labeled “Sur Lie” as it violates the current regulations which permit only nine months of aging) Marc has just released the 2007 Granite de Clisson, and although the vintage was more difficult, giving yields of only 20 hl/ha and a moderate 12.2 degrees alcohol, the elegance, balance and depth of this wine are simply astounding.

A little late, you say...?

We'd like to thank all of you for your continued support in this difficult year, Downtown, around the town and around the country. Your interest in delicious artisanal wines enables us to work with some of the nicest people and most passionate winemakers in the world and we thank you for making it possible. Have a great New Years Eve - here are a few of our favorite Champagnes and sparkling wines to help you celebrate!

Not only are we stocked with great party Champagne, but our selection currently boasts a great depth of specialty Champagnes that are small production and hard to find anywhere else.

Hard to pass up items include: the vintage-grape-site specific wines of Cedric Bouchard and Prevost; the Clouet cousins - Paul and Andre's prestige cuvees; the super-limited offering from the eccentric, organic operation of Georges Laval; several well-regarded 2002s - Margaine Special Club, Chartogne-Taillet, Goutorbe Special Club and Marguet; mags of 98 Vilmart and the singular Vouette et Sorbée from Kimmeridgian soil.

Many of these wines are ultra limited, so act now before they're gone!

Also, join us on Saturday from 4 – 7 for our annual holiday Champagne tasting – we will be opening nine wines, many from the esteemed Terry Theise Portfolio, and the first preview of 2007 Prevost!

At the lounges where I'm a regular, I prefer a seat at the bar that’s just left of center directly in front of the bartender’s main station – there I get to observe the successive creation of each cocktail: spirits queued up, measured pours, cracked eggs, mists, precise-stern shakes, and the long metered stir held in perfect time while conversing with a guest.