Welcome to WineChap’s newest new column “Talking Shop” wherein we visit the city’s top retailers to find out a bit the history of the shop, the staff, the wines, and any secret crucial info we happen to collect. You’ll generally find a few photos of the staff, a video interview with the owner, and a whole slew of wine recommendations. This week: Chambers Street Wines.
Having declared their independence from the generic bottles tyrannizing so many shelves throughout the city, David Lillie and Jamie Wolf, co-partners of celebrated Tribeca shop Chambers Street Wines, could be considered the Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock of New York’s retail circle. The pair teamed up in 2001 with the vision of bringing the best small-production, “natural,” hand-crafted French and Italian wines to the thirsty citizens of New York. Chambers quickly established itself as a prime destination for customers moving away from the same brand names in favor of honest juice from dedicated growers committed to expressing their respective terroirs.
Particular strengths include Burgundy, the Rhone, Piedmont, and the Loire—arguably, the heart of France’s “natural wine” movement—but Germany, Austria and Champagne receive equal love, with thoughtful selections in each price category. Thanks largely to intrepid buyer Chris Barnes, the store also boasts one of the city’s most impressive Spanish selections, showcasing the country’s emerging artisanal wine producers. Recently, David and Jamie have also begun direct-importing small allocations of bottles from a handful of tiny, under-the-radar producers in France and Italy, offering great traditional wines at affordable prices.
Although aficionados across the city unanimously gush over Chambers, beginners eager to explore the world of natural wine—or just looking for something cheap and delicious to drink with dinner—couldn’t be in better hands.
Tastings and Events: Don’t miss out on any of the store’s free tastings, often highlighting a specific region, producer or importer. For up-to-date info, check the website or just subscribe to the newsletter.
Crucial Intel: Be sure to ask the staff about bottles sourced directly from private cellars and small estates. Additionally, specially-selected “Staff Cases,” sold at $150 or $250 each, provide discounted introductions to the store’s amazingly diverse offerings.
VALUE
John’s Picks:
Luneau Papin 2008 Gros Plant Vieilles Vignes $11.49
A cousin to the Melon de Borgogne variety most famous in the Muscadet region, Gros Plant is a zippy dry wine for a very good price. This bottling comes from very old vines that provide a complexity not often found at this price bracket.
Tue-Boeuf 2009 Touraine Gamay “La Butte” $13.99
This sunny light-bodied red outclasses many wines at twice the price.
Sophie’s Picks:
Ostatu 2009 Rioja Blanco $12.99
A blend of Viura and Malvasia. Crisp, balanced, and sort of like a Spanish answer to Gruner Veltliner.
Rimbert 2009 Petit Cochons Bronzé $10.99
A bright, zippy rosé made from Cinsault in the northern Languedoc with lovely strawberry notes on the nose and palate.
Chris’s Picks:
Sitios de Bodega 2009 Rueda Con Class $10.49
Comprised primarily of the Verdejo grape, this has very Sauvignon Blanc-like characteristics, with bright, crisp acidity, ample citrus fruits, chalky minerality and a pleasant herbaciousness. The winery is certified organic as of this vintage and they use native yeasts for fermentation.
Finca Torremilanos 2008 Ribera del Duero Roble $11.99
It is hard to find Ribera del Duero under $15, but this one sells for $12! It has great purity with spicy, deep complex fruit. It is low in alcohol and doesn’t have the usual intrusive vanilla tones from oak so often found in this region. It is all estate fruit, they farm organic, use wild yeasts, and cooper their own barrels - a very artisanal operation.
Additional Wine Chap Picks:
Domaine du Closel 2007 Savennières “La Jalousie” $18.99
The entry-level bottling from a legendary domaine in Anjou, this is classic Chenin at an excellent price.
Bernard Baudry 2007 Chinon “Cuvée Domaine” $17.99
Without question, Baudry is one of the Loire’s master vignerons. To spend under $20 for wine of this quality, sourced from 35-year old Cab Franc vines, feels borderline criminal.
FIRST DATE
John’s Picks:
Marcel Lapierre 2009 Morgon $21.99
Red wine drinkers enjoy the fruit, while white wine drinkers enjoy the light refreshing nature of the wines. In either case Lapierre’s wines show great complexity from his natural wine making, and will provide lots to talk about.
Terres Dorees 2008 VDT Roussanne $17.99
Jean-Paul Brun, the mastermind behind the wonderful wines of Terres Dorees, decided to plant some Roussanne vines in his hometown of Charnay in the middle of limestone rich Southern Beaujolais, resulting in a much more chiseled style than its interpreters to the South.
Sophie’s Picks:
Paul Clouet NV Champagne Cuvee Prestige Grand Cru Brut $54.99
I’m a huge sucker for Bouzy Champagne (no pun intended) especially in the hands of the cousins Andre and Paul Clouet. This is a full-bodied, earthy, and vinous style of Pinot Noir based Champagne that shows some evolution (it’s a blend of ’95 and ’96 fruit), full of almond-y richness.
Puffeney 2007 Trousseau $29.99
No one makes Trousseau as well as Jacques Puffeney. In ’07, this wine is beautifully elegant and feminine in style, also more forward than it’s been in past vintages.
Chris’s Picks:
San Clodio 2008 Ribeiro Blanco $20.99
I love Ribeiro. It’s medium bodied, very balanced, and smells like honeysuckle and orchard fruits with a sea shell-like mineral edge. Kind of splits the difference between slate-y German Riesling and Chardonnay.
Ponce 2008 Manchuela ‘La Casilla’ $17.49
For first dates, I like wines that have flavors that are familiar yet have an edge to them - something that will provide a potential discussion, but with enough drinkability to nurture conversation. For me, the La Casilla exemplifies this. It is an old-vine sun-drenched expression that has power, depth, and complexity while maintaining freshness.
Additional Wine Chap Picks:
Gonon 2007 St. Joseph Rouge $29.99
Avoiding the current trend toward fancy single-vineyard bottlings, he aspires instead to reflect the character of the AOC itself, drawing from each of his historic parcels to craft just one impeccable white and red St. Joseph in every vintage.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
John’s Picks:
Puzelat 2008 “Le Rouge Est Mis” $24.99
Pinot Meunier is mostly known as the workhorse in Champagne blends, but it has also been cultivated as still wine in the Loire, Germany, and even Australia. Tastes like Pinot Noir, but with a very delicate balance of Puzelat earth and pretty fruit.
Wind Gap 2008 Trousseau Gris $26.99
White wine made of Trousseau? Grown in California? Stop asking questions and try it! Rich honey dew and melon fruits make this not only a curiosity, but also a joy to drink.
Sophie’s Picks:
Puffeney 2005 Melon-Queue-Rouge $24.99
Melon-Queue is a distant cousin of Chardonnay cultivated only in the Jura. Puffeney ages his sous-voile or some months, giving the wine nutty length on the palate as well as that amazing, tangy “je ne sais quoi” of wines from the Jura.
Louis Rodriguez 2007 Ribeiro Tinto $32.99
For a complete list of the grape varieties that comprise this brilliant wine, you’ll have to check the website. On the nose, the wine has the peppery, granitic edge of northern Rhône Syrah with beautiful floral, dark fruits on the palate.
Chris’s Picks:
Xarmant 2009 Arabako Txakolina $14.99
Araba is one of the smallest DOs in all of Spain. It is very distinctive for its Tufa soil and Atlantic influence. Xarmant’s Txakolina is fermented with wild yeasts and has just a very lightest of spritz and very savory flavors of grain, sea salt and petrol reminiscent of a Mosel Riesling.
Pedralonga 2007 Rias Baixas Caiño Do Umia $19.99
This is from the region Rias Baixas, an area along the Atlantic Ocean known for its white wines made from the noble Albariño grape. According to local lore, before the phylloxera epidemic Caiño was the preferred local grape. It is light to medium bodied, dry, with good structure and gamey, spicy aromatics.
Additional Wine Chap Picks:
Nusserhof 2006 Sudtiroler Lagrein Riserva $29.99
A savory, spicy red from a generations-old family estate in Northern Italy’s Alto Adige, brushing the Austrian border, this slightly tannic red is just starting to loosen its lederhosen, combining Alpine purity with enough “stuffing” to pair with stews, braised meats and other rich fare.
TREAT YOURSELF
John’s Picks:
Paolo Bea 2004 Montefalco Vigneto Pagliaro Sagrantino Secco $96.99
The Bea farm in Umbria turns out some of the areas, if not Italy’s, most distinctive wines. Of all of the production the Sagrantino is the true star with savage earthy complexity coupled over rich cherry fruit. The 2004 has great acid and herbal components, and although young, still shows hints of the amazing wine to come.
Karthauserhof 2008 Ruwer Riesling Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Auslese $58.99
A mouthful of a name for a wine that is a mouthful of minerals. The Ruwer is a cooler sub-region of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer section of Germany, and this wine is the pinnacle of elegance in a region renowned for its ethereality.
Sophie’s Picks:
Laherte Freres NV Champagne “Chavot Les Clos” Extra Brut $76.99
This is an exceptional Champagne that is a field blend of all seven Champagne grapes raised in barrel. Perhaps drinking it is a tiny bit like drinking Selosse, but it’s mainly just great Champagne that highlights the earthy character of Pinot Meunier. Biodynamic!
Bachelet 2007 Gevrey-Chambertin “Vieilles Vignes” $79.99
I suspect the reason this wine is so delicious so young is that ’07 is a forward vintage. The wine has all the brambly, earthy character of Gevrey mingling with dark berry fruit that is at once intense and light on its feet.
Chris’s Picks:
Luis Rodriguez 2008 Ribeiro Blanco $32.99
Ribeiro again! This is the master of Ribeiro. Intensely mineral, waxy and focused with a great ability to age. This reminds of Cotat Sancerre or something along those lines.
Lopez de Heredia 1991 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva $89.99
This wine is a in such a beautiful place right now. It is just liquid silk, pure and simple.
CROWD PLEASER
John’s Picks:
Benaza 2008 Monterrei Godello $12.99
This Godello essentially tastes like an un-oaked mineral laden Chardonnay from Petit Chablis, but at a great price. Rich enough for California Chardonnay lovers, and complex enough for critical wine geeks. Yet another reason why we should all pay more attention to Galicia.
Peybonhomme 2007 Premières Cote de Blaye $12.99
Mostly Merlot from an organic estate on the “Right Bank” of Bordeaux. A nice medium bodied wine that is classically French, but has some very pretty fruit for fans of California wines.
Sophie’s Picks:
Gysler 2009 Scheurebe Halbtrocken $13.99
Who couldn’t love this delicious, off-dry German wine? It’s refreshingly fruity with zesty acidity and interesting fruit character that’s decidedly jicama-like.
Sablonnettes 2009 Les Copains D’Abords
A perfect natural wine from the central Loire Valley, with juicy acidity and vivid red fruit on the palate. Non-manipulated and extremely refreshing when chilled, this tastes like very little has been done to turn the juice into wine.
Additional Wine Chap Picks:
Knebel 2008 Mosel Riesling Trocken $13.99
Over some chips and a bowl of dip we could tell you all the relevant stats about this hand-harvested, non-chapitalized, low-alcohol, spontaneously-fermented dry German Riesling, but you’d be far too busy guzzling it down to care.
Terres Dorees (Jean-Paul Brun) 2009 Beaujolais “l’Ancien” Vieilles Vignes $15.99
A bright, fruity, yet surprisingly structured Gamay to drink virtually anywhere.
-Zachary Sussman
