Brooklyn Oenology Winery (pron. ‘EN-ology’ or simply ‘BOE’), is a locally-focused winery based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, founded in 2006 by winemaker Alie Shaper. BOE extends the fundamental idea of terroir, which is essentially a combination of factors that create a wine’s sense of “place,” by incorporating the local agricultural, creative culinary, and art worlds.
In addition to sourcing New York grapes, BOE draws upon the Brooklyn and greater New York areas to create its identity. Each wine’s label showcases contemporary art by a Brooklyn artist and features a new piece of work for each vintage. They’re not just for viewing; they are double-layer, easy-to-peel stickers, so the customer can preserve the artwork. The tasting room also sells products from other artisanal New York state producers.
BOE is creating award-winning wines as well as a unique territory: Brooklyn Terroir. The wines are a celebration of the cultural inheritance and artisanal revolution that define Brooklyn. We look forward to sharing our community with you.
Process
Œnology (Oenology, Enology) is the art and science of winemaking. It combines a series of carefully chosen techniques with the unquantifiable touch of taste and aroma evaluation, guided by intuition. It is the choice of grapes, vineyard blocks, yeast for fermentation, balance of chemistry, timing of various mechanical practices, and barrel selection. All winemaking follows some common path, but every winemaker has her own special formula, directed by her sense of style and taste.
BOE does not own vineyards; we purchase our fruit directly from New York vineyards, and then manage our winemaking, from harvest through press to fermentation, tank and/or barrel storage, and then into the bottle. As we grow we plan to bring more of our process into Brooklyn itself. Currently we are fermenting at Premium Wine group, an excellent facility in Mattituck on the North Fork of Long Island.
Logo
Brooklyn Oenology’s distinctive ‘BOE’ logo was conceived to evoke the inspirations that drive our winemaking: smart and balanced creativity, artisanal quality, and structured, old-world artistry. Originally inspired by architectural and typographic design guides, and suggestive of Leonardo DaVinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man,’ Brooklyn’s ‘B’ plus the classical ligature character ‘OE’ (Œ or œ) come together to form an appropriate abbreviation evocative of all that Brooklyn Oenology Winery represents.
Our Former Brooklyn Tasting Room
In November 2010 we had opened our BOE Tasting Room at Wythe Avenue and North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There we served the full line of BOE wines, as well as many other New York State products, including Whiskies, Ciders, Wines, Beers and a full variety of other culinary treats! We also played host to a variety of cultural events, such as art shows and receptions for our label artists, literary readings, music nights, and wine classes.
We thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Williamsburg neighborhood. At the end of 2016, due to rising costs of operation in the area, we made the decision to close our beloved storefront to refocus our energies towards other parts of the business. Our entire portfolio of wines are available in our Online Store, and at many NYC wine shops, restaurants, and hotels - see our Where To Buy list here.
About Alie
Alie Shaper is the founder and winemaker of Brooklyn Oenology, the first urban winery concept in New York City. A third generation entrepreneur, Alie’s first formal exposure to wine came at Cornell University’s intensive Friday afternoon wine course. After receiving her engineering degree, Alie was recruited to a San Jose military contractor where, in between central coast wine tastings, she worked on a number of projects, including the helmet displays for F-22 fighter pilots.
Seeking to apply her talents in a more creative direction, Alie returned to New York and began her wine career in earnest, working first in a winery tasting room in New York’s Hudson Valley, then at the groundbreaking Vintage New York retail wine shop in Manhattan. Here, she developed a passion for the wines of New York State while obtaining her Advanced Certificate from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust of London. Alie applied this knowledge first as the beverage director at a multi-location restaurant group, and then as director of the New York City in-store tasting program for a major wine distributor.
Wanting to develop more completely, Alie took a role as a harvest worker at Premium Wine Group in the heart of Long Island’s North Fork growing region, where she trained in all aspects of winery work and began to develop her own winemaking ideas. After moving to Brooklyn for its burgeoning creative scene, Alie became inspired to celebrate the creativity of our region, and founded Brooklyn Oenology to bridge New York’s famous agricultural, artistic and culinary worlds, while bringing the quality wines of our region directly to the New York City market.
In January 2014, Alie was elected as a Board Member of the Long Island Wine Council, the East End wine industry’s marketing initiative group, and in January 2016, became part of its Executive Board serving as Secretary.
In Fall 2015, Alie released a new brand of wine, called As If Wines, to create a small boutique set of wines that tell her personal story of possibility, opportunity, luck, and gratitude. Each of the three wines, “Serendipity”, “Courage”, and “Persistence” showcase her winemaking talents, and celebrate living an amazing life.
