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“YOU’RE LATE,” said David Lillie to me when I arrived at his store, Chambers Street Wines in Manhattan, at half past ten in the morning a few weeks ago. (The store opens at 10 a.m.) “You missed an elegant valet of inventory,” he added, referring to the cases of wine his staff had to carry into the store when the conveyor belt in the basement broke. That’s how they talk at Chambers Street Wines; the staff slips in terms like “schist” and “whip-crack acidity” when speaking with customers who know what they mean. A cardinal staff rule: Never pretend to know more than you do, because the customer is likely to know even…