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Jancis Robinson Wine of the Week - Patrick Piuze Chablis
Aug 19th, 2014
It's always a thrill to encounter a promising new producer, and I'm indebted to Steve Daniel, who used to be the head wine buyer at Oddbins in its glory days, for steering me towards Patrick Piuze, a French Canadian who was introduced to the culture of ...
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Notes from a Recent Trip to the Canary Islands
Aug 14th, 2014
The top of Pico del Ingles on Tenerife, with a view of the Atlantic.
Close your eyes. Imagine standing on one of the world’s largest volcanoes, wiggling its black volcanic sand between your toes and looking out over the ...
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Cava Is Overlooked Everywhere but Catalonia
Aug 7th, 2014
ST.-SADURNÍ d’ANOIA, Spain — If ever a grape needed a champion, it may well be xarello. It suffers pronunciation woes (in Catalan, it’s shah-RELL-lo; in Castilian, hah-RELL-lo; in English, zah-RELL-oh). It has spelling issues (it’s often written xarel-lo among numerous other renderings). Most ...
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The Two Faces of Soave
Jul 16th, 2014
It’s no longer news that Italy makes great white wines. In the bad old days, the Italian whites available in the United States tended to be insipid mass-marketed brands or campy contrived bottles. But since then, a revival has introduced the world to wonderful selections from the Valle d’Aoste at ...
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Not So Cold ... Doctor’s Order
Jun 19th, 2014
IT could be that I’m a crank. Or a grump. Or maybe I’m anticipating that time in life when I’m not expected to be anything but cranky or grumpy. But I must call attention to an almost reflex practice among many American wine drinkers that troubles me in the extreme.
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Lessons from Napa in the trickiest of years
Jun 12th, 2014
Square peg. Square peg. Square peg.
Couldn't get that out of my head during my recent tastings of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
After all, Napa Cab is the benchmark by which California wine is measured. And here I had arrived at the 2011 vintage, as round a hole of a year as you could expect - ...
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Raw, Early Observations About the Decidedly Wacky 2013 Vintage in Germany
May 21st, 2014
2013 German Vintage Report By Evan Spingarn, German Brand Manager at DBW I just attended the VDP Mainzer Weinborse (the annual tasting in Mainz, Germany of the top 200 growers in the country) and made a few key visits to ...
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Bloomer Creek Wines Make Finger Lakes Hallowed Ground
Apr 29th, 2014
Kim Engle pauses mid-sentence as his eyes drift to the window. Looking uneasy, he peers through the foggy pane at his vineyards: "Sorry, the rain made me lose concentration; it makes me nervous." For four summer days, the rain had been driving down in unseasonably high quantities; that morning, the ...
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Wines That Pack A Little Extra Kick
Apr 19th, 2014
Every culture has its own lucky number. For the Chinese, eight is considered the luckiest as it symbolizes wealth and good fortune. (It's also the model size for fashion designers, though in New York the luckiest size is probably a two.)
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Sancerre: Say It With Feeling
Apr 19th, 2014
Two other top Sancerre producers were not in our tasting because their 2007s are not yet available, but I highly recommend wines from Gérard Boulay and of course Edmond Vatan, a master producer who retired after the 2007 vintage, but whose daughter, Anne, will continue to make the wines under his ...
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The longest of long views on Napa Cabernet
Apr 10th, 2014
Celebrated winemaker Philip Togni is gradually handing the reins of the family winery on Spring Mountain outside St. Helena to his daughter Lisa.
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Taming of the Bestial Bandol
Mar 17th, 2014
Wine is so often typecast. Rosé belongs to the summer, and zinfandel, the all-American wine, to Thanksgiving. We drink white wine with fish.
Resorting to such reflexes is understandable. Wine can be confusing, and taking refuge in simple guidelines offers security. But the guidelines, though not ...
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Special (And In Some Cases Free) Wine Events This Week in the NY Metro Area
Mar 17th, 2014
Vineyards at Los Bermejos
Monday March 17th
*A SPECIAL MONDAY TASTING AT CHAMBERS ST. WINES: THE INCREDIBLE WINES OF BERMEJOS!
5:00 PM TO 7:00 PM 148 Chambers St. (Tribeca). Free and open to the public. For more ...
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The Canaries - where vines, and wines, creep up on you
Feb 21st, 2014
Question: Where are the highest vineyards in Europe? Switzerland, eat your heart out. In fact, they are on the slopes of the highest mountain in Spain, El Teide, the active volcano that dominates the island of Tenerife in the Canaries off the coast of Africa
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The Book on Amontillado
Feb 19th, 2014
No. 2: Fernando de Castilla Amontillado Antique Jerez
Diving into amontillado is the equivalent of committing to a long, complicated novel. You may be surprised, even astounded by what you find. You will almost certainly be rewarded if you permit yourself to be challenged.
I feel as if I’ve learned ...
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Misty Monday in Savigny-lès-Beaune
Feb 19th, 2014
I headed toward Savigny-lès-Beaune in the mist, with the smoke from the burning of vine cuttings illuminated against the hills. It was my last day in the Côte d’Or.
The cellar was cold at Domaine Chandon de Briailles, where Claude de Nicolaÿ-Drouhin gave ...
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Stop the Cork Tax
Feb 6th, 2014
STOP THE CORK TAX is a coalition of small businesses dedicated to preventing the destructive cork tax associated with “At Rest” legislation.
The cork tax is being pushed by big wholesalers to eliminate their main competition – small businesses across the state. It will make it harder for New York ...
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Your 2014 Resolution: Drink Adventurously
Jan 5th, 2014
Here’s my resolution for 2014: Drink adventurously. Nowadays, great wines come from all directions and continents. You can easily be content drinking familiar, wonderful wines. Yet for me, the joy of wine requires the warm embrace of old friends and the thrill of recognizing new ones.
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Crystalline, Low Alcohol Wines From the “Old School”
Jan 3rd, 2014
David Bowler, Kevin Tunney and Gab Bowler in Von Hovel's tasting room this past August, which also houses one of the most impressive cork screw collections we've ever seen! Photo credit: David Mcduff
Producer Snapshot ...
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Welcome to the Bowler Family, Andrew Will Cellars!
Dec 12th, 2013
David Bowler Wine is very excited to announce that beginning in January, we will be distributing the famed Andrew Will wines from Washington state. Coincidentally, just as we firmed up this new partnership we were ...
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Love & Tradition in Piedmont
Nov 21st, 2013
From the Desk of David Bowler:
Pictured: Luciano Pira and Walter Anselma
Love & Tradition in Piedmont
Cement tanks, large Slavonian oak botti, basket press, family-run, traditional methods and avoidance of modern ...
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Wines for Thanksgiving: Mixing Without Trying to Match
Nov 13th, 2013
When I first came to The New York Times nearly 30 years ago (good God!), I worked with an editor who kept a file labeled “How We Did It Last Time.” Inside were detailed instructions for covering events that occurred regularly but infrequently, like elections.
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Meet Winemaker Silvio Messana of Montesecondo Tonight at Chambers Street
Nov 8th, 2013
Silvio Massena of Montesecondo. image via louisdressner.com
TONIGHT AT CHAMBERS STREET WINES: Meet winemaker Silvio Messana of Montesecondo and taste through his superb line-up of Tuscan wines from 5-7PM. (148 ...
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The Weekend in Photos: Northern Italy
Nov 4th, 2013
In case you missed our post on Friday: David Bowler, Jake Halper (our Louis/Dresser brand manager) and Vinicius Rodrigues (one of our New York Sales Reps) are traveling around northern Italy visiting some of our favorite producers, whose wines we distribute. Over the next week we will be ...