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Finding traditional Barolo for under $60 is impossible. Under $50 you need to be dreaming. Under $40 you need to slap yourself silly to make sure you have not traveled back in time to 1985 when wine prices were sane. Due to an inventory glitch in our uptown warehouse, we have 19 cases of two great Baroli - - and we are slashing the prices to move them out before the summer. The Boasso Estate is six hectares and Boasso has cru's in the great Parafada and Gabuti vineyards. Gabutti gives wines of great power and longetivity and is considered one of the longest aging crus in all of Piedmont for Nebbiolo even sometimes surpassing Brunate and Cannubi. There are no barriques used on the wines so we are definitely talking about traditional wines here. The Gabutti is from 50 year old vines and the Serralunga is from a blend of diverse vineyards.

Chambers Street is proud to feature three wines from Catherine and Jean-Luc Hubert, proprietors of Chateau Peybonhomme-les-Tours in the Cotes de Blaye and Chateau La Grolet in the Cotes de Bourg. These lovely wines are delicious and affordable examples of the benefits of bio-dynamic farming.

Spatburgunder is hotter than ever and the great ones that have been hoarded in Germany by top restaurants and collectors are finally arriving on our shores. Why is that? Because more and more American tasters are going there and tasting these spectacular wines. At Chambers Street Wines, Lyle, our resident Spatburgunder fanatic, has compiled an array of interesting Spatburgunders from all the top regions. Spatburgunder is grown as far north as the Ahr (North of Mosel) and as far South as Baden. With such a great distance between growing regions there are obvious differences. Throw in winemaking decisions and philosophies and you can see where I going which brings us to today’s offer.

During our recent trip to the Loire Valley we were fortunate to taste with Pascale and Etienne de Bonaventure of Chateau Coulaine. Situated in Veron, terroir praised by Rabelais, the estate has been producing wine since 1300. Etienne and Pascale took over the wine-making in 1988, enlarged the property, converted it to organic viticulture, and raised the quality to be among the top few in Chinon.
They produce two wines for early drinking from vineyards of sands and gravel near the Vienne river, but their top wines are from the classic "argilo-calcaire" clay/limestone soils of Veron that give complex, earthy wines capable of long-term cellaring. We are happy to offer small quantities of two of these wines not previously avalable in the US. The Clos du Turpenay dates back to 1245 and is a great site, mid-slope, with 45 year old, massale selection vines. Les Picasses is one of the most famous vineyards in Chinon, giving powerful, earthy wines that become remarkably complex with 15 to 20 years of cellaring. But don't worry, both these wines can be enjoyed now if you can't wait.....

We expect the wines to arrive in the store in mid to late April.

A customer of our bought a case of this to cellar but sheepishly called two weeks later for another case. The reason? He had finished the first case already!

Domaine des Croix is a new Burgundy producer created from the old Domaine Duchet, centered in Beaune. They have a number of Beaune 1er Crus and a little Corton Charlemagne. They grow their vines on the "lutte raisonee" program of very limited use of pesticides, sulphur, fertilizer, etc. The Beaune 1er Cru Pertuisots is located between the premier crus Aigrots, Vignes Franches, Clos Landry & Les Sizies, just a stones throw from Clos des Mouches.


The Domaine des Croix Pertuisots consists of two plots of vines, one is 35 years old, the other is 50. This wine is very open right now with lots of those little red fruits (les petits fruits rouges) very supple, very ripe tannins, good acidity and all of these elements are in perfect balance. Very elegant, very light on its feet, but still powerful and flavory. This is a magnificent and affordable Red Burgundy to buy and cellar. (Or drink!)
Don't forget: 10% off any 12 bottles of wine from our inventory...

The following essay was written by Burgundy winemaker Philippe Pacalet, as an introduction to a collection of Jules Chauvet's studies on yeasts, techniques of vinification, carbonic maceration and malolactic fermentation. Considered to be the "father" of French natural winemaking, Chauvet was a Beaujolais negociant, taster and chemist whose studies and opinions, from the 1940's till his death in 1989, encouraged and made possible more natural methods, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. We see his influence, for example, in the work of Marcel Lapierre and others in the Beaujolais beginning in the early 1980's, and in the thriving natural wine movement today in France and Italy. We thank Jean-Paul Rocher, Editeur (Paris) for permission and for making many publications about Chauvet available. Further information can be found on the excellent website morethanorganic.com, and at LouisDressner.com (the principal importer of natural wines into the US).

I recently tasted with the great Beaujolais producer Georges Descombes, at the natural wine show (La Dive Bouteille) in Deauville, and then again a few days later at his home in Vilié-Morgon where we had a more extensive tasting. In his family kitchen, while eating fabulous homemade charcuterie and helping his daughter with her English homework, we tasted the full range of his 2006 and 2007 vintages. It was a wonderful tasting of superbly pretty, complex and elegant wines, with people who are friendly, straightforward and justifiably proud of their work. Yes, he did make unreal 2005’s as many of our customers know. The Brouilly VV and the Morgon VV are in many of your cellars already but this 2006 Chiroubles Vieilles Vignes is truly something special. It won’t be here for a bit but I was bowled over by it. It is from one of the less sexy appellations in Beaujolais, Chiroubles, but ignore where it is from as this is easily the most nuanced and complex Descombes wine that I have ever had the privilege of tasting. It is significantly softer than his Regnié, Brouilly and Morgon but no less detailed. Maybe even more detailed. There is also a lot less of this than all the others. Maybe he makes 160 cases and most gets gobbled up locally or on the Paris wine bar scene.

No question that the 2005 big name wines from Burgundy are both fantastic and very hard to find. And not cheap. Following is a list of some of our recent purchases (mostly offered as pre-arrivals); by no means are all of these expensive - there are some great values for the cellar.

At any rate, here are some more elusive 2005s - Fourrier, Lafarge, etc. As soon as we have more to offer we will let you know.