Vino Lovers, Rejoice: 3 Brooklyn Wine Bars Giving Beer Bars a Run For Their Money
Brooklyn isn’t where you’d expect to find the city’s most exciting wine bars–what with the abundance of breweries and beer bars–but it’s exactly where three newcomers have set up shop and given newfound joy to the borough’s wine lovers. Sure, Manhattan has a lock down on wine bars, but Brooklyn’s renaissance of the wine bar has us rethinking our after-work IPA for a more refined happy hour.
What makes Brooklyn the new hotspot in the city’s wine landscape? Because the borough’s collective love of craft beer has given way to more curated, more local, and more innovative wine lists. Three newer wine bars are giving the wine drinkers of Brooklyn more reason to stay in the neighborhood to enjoy a bottle of cabernet (and thank God for that):
The Camlin, 175 Kent Avenue
The owners of Ardesia Bar in Midtown, Mandy Oser and chef Amorette Casaus, take the concept of the wine bar to the next level at this new (ish) Williamsburg bar. The Camlin keeps it Brooklyn hip with an offbeat sort of wine list, offering up some wines from little-known regions. Where else will you find (like Croatia, Canada, and even Lebanon). Come for the vino (like a glass of our personal favorite rosé, the Bonny Doon “Vin Gris de Cigare”), stay for the freshest oysters you’ll find on this side of the East River (and only $1 until 7 p.m. most nights).
June, 231 Court Street
“All-natural” may be splayed across every restaurant menu known to man, but finding an all-natural wine list is near impossible–until now. June’s wine list may be smaller than most wine bars in Cobble Hill, but it may be the most delectably curated all-natural wine list in the borough. You’ll be hardpressed to find a sparkling orange wine or a Canary Islands “ensamblaje blanco”, well, anywhere else, but June still stocks plenty of the recognizable varietals, like your Loire Valley sauvignon blanc and your Australian Syrah. Prices aren’t cheap, but you’ll be happy to try a “quartino” (slightly bigger than a glass) of a new pour.
The Four Horseman, 295 Grand Street
A newcomer to the Brooklyn wine scene, and an unexpected one–yes, it’s the new wine bar from LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy. And yes, it’s already deserving of high praise, thanks to its super homey vibe and tunes playing (yes, you need Van Morrison playing when you’re sipping on a glass of wine). But it’s the modestly priced–and quite expansive–wine list that gets us excited. Plenty of options start under $40, like a French rosé (the Jean-Paul Brun “Le Rosé d’Folie”) or an Italian dolcetto d’alba (the Brovia “Vignavillej”). Much like its owner’s previous ventures, the Four Horsemen is sure to be a runaway hit.