Gnarly Vines, Wine & Spirits is a retail shop located on Myrtle Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene. Upon researching their shop, I decided to choose here for my report due to their excellent online reviews. The owner, Brian and I had spoken briefly over the phone and he said that it would be okay for me to come visit and ask a few questions the following week. He seemed extremely courteous and professional, and my expectations were high.

My visit was unfortunately at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, right before the restrictions had been applied to businesses. As I walked into Gnarly Vines, it was eerily quiet and the man behind the counter was chatting with a customer. While they were talking, I walked through the store to explore the available selection. While there was a vast amount of wines from all over the world, it felt extremely disorganized. There were poorly drawn labels attempting to divide the wines into their respective regions, grape varieties, etc.

The one piece of new information I had acquired was about orange wines. The handwritten description for orange wines said that it’s a type of white wine that is given its deep, vibrant orange hue by keeping the juice, skins and seeds in contact with each other during the fermentation process. I was glad to acquire new knowledge here, regardless of the chaotic setup I was witnessing. Once the customer had left, I approached the worker who had happened to be the owner, Brian. I had reminded him that I called the week prior about coming in, and began to tell him I am new to the wine world and had a few questions. After I finished speaking, he said that he was very busy stocking the store, he was trying to limit his contact with people due to the COVID-19 situation and asked if I could come back next week. Although we had scheduled over the phone to talk that specific day, I completely understood his reasoning.

While my visit wasn’t what I was hoping for, it gave me an idea of what ways a retail shop could be more organized and informative. With their excellent reviews online I thought that the storefront would be more presentable. However, I am sure that him and his staff are very knowledgeable and would be much more helpful if the current Corona Virus situation ceased to exist.