When Julia and I left Brooklyn for Berkeley, five years ago this February, the temperature was well below freezing, and the cobblestone streets met the sidewalk with a solid, sloping bridge of ice. If you’ve never been to New York City in the wintertime, it’s hard to imagine the initial calm, and the ensuing chaos, of a heavy snowfall. You wake to an odd quietude, city sounds fully muffled by the surrounding blanket, and through the window, where once were cars, trees, fences, and streets full of color, is a continuous, rolling flow of softly blinding white.

As a child, in western New York, I would listen intently to the morning radio on snowy mornings, as they read the list of schools closed for the day in alphabetical order. Our school, Victor Central, made for a long wait that rarely ended with the desired declaration. Apparently, it took a devastating storm to close Victor schools; even when countless others were shuttered, our buses powered through.

Smith & Vine, the Brooklyn wine shop where Daniel, Glenny, and I all met one another, did not close for weather, and the city required us to keep the sidewalk out front clear of snow and ice, so the first order of business in opening was the shovel and salt routine, sometimes repeated hourly throughout the day. We kept sidewalk salt in stock as diligently as we did dog biscuits, or wine openers. 

There was never parking in Carroll Gardens, so I’d walk the half hour through the snow from Red Hook with doubled socks and long johns, past the vacant lot where the stray cats hang out. Each December, a nativity scene was installed in this lot, but this did not bother the cats, and many a morning, my sprits were buoyed, like those of countless other Red Hookers, by the sight of three tabbies, like sheep beside the wise men, or a calico in the crèche. I can’t say I miss the drudgery, but sometimes I miss the kitties in the manger.

We will be OPEN 12/24 for CHRISTMAS EVE from 11am until 4pm and we will be CLOSED on CHRISTMAS DAY. Happy Holidays to all y’all!

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! ALL FRENCH REDS or WHITES. $12 tasting flights of three wines from 4 to 8pm and wines by the glass.

SATURDAY 12/22:  – CALIFORNIA TASTING FLIGHTS  - Two whites and two reds from this great and temperate state - $15 tasting from 2 to 6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 12/23: $15 LOIRE VALLEY TASTING FLIGHTS - $15 tasting from 2 to 6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.

Cheers,
Max