Alie Shaper called her winery "Brooklyn Oenology" because her wine is carefully made and thoughtfully produced, and because "Brooklyn Wine Company" was already taken. The name works, though, for a company built by a Cornell University–trained engineer who turned her wine hobby into a successful slice of the Brooklyn artisanal renaissance. (Shaper had planned to start a winery when she retired, but the small-industry boom in Brooklyn inspired her to speed the plan up a few decades and build her winery in a converted Greenpoint warehouse.) Available in Manhattan and Brooklyn—and coming soon to Queens—Shaper's award-winning wines are locally produced and feature the work of Brooklyn artists on their labels. Time to ditch the Three Buck Chuck.
How'd you get the idea to start the business?
I was out on the docks in Red Hook, thinking about how much Brooklyn has changed from being heavily industrial to this big artisanal movement, and the idea just fell out of the sky. Why not start an urban winery?
You make the wine in Brooklyn?
Not yet. The production facility's out in Long Island. I'm using all fruit from Long Island, too; I really believe in the wines that are being made here. But the hope is to eventually have the winery in Brooklyn, along with the production side of the company.
If I wanted to have a dinner party and use all Brooklyn-made products, what would you recommend?
Salvatore Brooklyn makes delicious homemade ricotta, and McClure's pickles are great. Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint has some great Polish bakeries and meat markets. For dessert, Fine and Raw chocolate makes a really nice fudgy chocolate, and Mast Brothers makes beautiful chocolate bars. Steve's Authentic key lime pies down in Red Hook is great, and Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope is my favorite coffee.
And wine from the Wine Club?
Yeah! We make six wines altogether, so if you're in the Brooklyn Oenology Wine Club, you get three shipments a year of two wines, a couple bottles of each. People are entertaining at home more these days, and getting a shipment of wine is a great reason to have people over.
What are your six wines?
We started with a Chardonnay ($17) and a Merlot ($18–$20), and we've added four more wines to the lineup. Our Social Club White ($13) and Social Club Red ($15) are two really versatile table wines, priced for everyday drinking. The other two are limited production wines: One is a Viognier ($18), which has great floral and fruit notes, but finishes nice and dry, and the sixth wine is a red blend I called "Motley Cru" ($18). The idea behind that wine is to do a different blend each year, something that not everyone is doing.
What's the blend right now?
Right now it's 60 percent Syrah and 15 percent Malbec, 14 percent Petit Verdot, nine percent Merlot and one percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It's got a kind of rustic note, a Rhone-like nose from the Syrah, and hints of red current, cherry, black pepper and floral notes from the Petit Verdot. It's just really different.
You use Brooklyn artists' work on your labels—who's on the label for Motley Cru?
Motley Cru is Jen Ferguson, who's based in DUMBO.
Do you choose the artwork for the label based on the wine?
Definitely. Jen's piece is a street scene from DUMBO called "In the Neighborhood." It's Brooklyn characters—a dude with balloons, a guy pushing a shopping cart—and to me that went together with Motley Cru.
Totally. So if someone's not familiar with your products, which of your wines would you recommend for first-time buyers?
Considering that spring is coming, I would recommend folks try the Viognier. It's been described as "spring in a glass." And every time I go back to it, I taste something else. It's full of melons and peaches and pears and honeysuckle and lime, and then at the end you get this really flowery, white rose-y smell.
Find bars, restaurants and stores selling Brooklyn Oenology wines here.
Photo by Sam Horine
