A Wine Treasure in New Hampshire

We have been up to the Ceres Street Wine Merchants a couple of times. Ceres Street Wine Merchants is 80% wine shop, 20% curio shop and is really quite unique. Ceres Street Wine Merchants is New Hampshire's oldest and largest private wine shop and features wines from around the world. They also have wine antiques, glassware and other related stuff.


On a recent visit, we had an opportunity to stop and chat with David Campbell, the proprietor. David is filling a niche in New Hampshire where the market is dominated by large state run liquor stores offering nationally distributed brands. What you will find at Ceres Street Wine Merchants is a collection of around 1000 wines that David has hand-picked according to his standards. He is looking for wines that are "true to their roots (pun intended)." When he samples a wine, he is looking for qualities that let him know where this wine came from. One of David's motto's is "Life's to short to drink cheap wine."

Ceres St. carries wines ranging from around $12.00 up to a couple of hundred dollars. David also handles many rare and valuable wines for clients of his consulting business. A display of 'empties' gracing a side shelf is a veritable pantheon of mythical wines. Among his collection are several Mouton-Rothschild vintages including 1945, and 1982, and a huge Screaming Eagle 1992 bottle (I believe it was an Imperial bottle--that's 6 litres). We purchased a 2003 Barbaresco, two Viogniers (one from Argentina, one from France), and a Rhone Valley Rosé. We will be reviewing these wines in the near future.

The shop is located at 65 Ceres St., in Portsmouth; New Hampshire's historic waterfront near the famous tugboats. So when you are in the area, be sure to stop in and say hello.