THE DYNAMIC DUO

Wine store owners Eric Woods and Jai Jai Greenfield are spreading their love of wine in New York’s famed Harlem neighborhood.
By Robyn Moreno

After seven years of enjoying Harlem’s flourishing restaurant scene, but still finding himself unable to buy a decent bottle of wine in his neighborhood, Eric Woods decided to take matters into his own hands. Where Manhattan may have a wine store every five or six blocks, there wasn’t one near Woods for over forty blocks. “I was spending way too much time across town in Sherry-Lehmann’s,” says Woods. “As a consumer, it was a challenge to find and purchase wine in Harlem that I wanted to drink.”

So the ad exec-by-day and wineenthusiast-by-night teamed up with college pal Jai Jai Greenfield and together they decided to open up Harlem Vintage Wine Store, the area’s first boutique vintner. Thus began a two-year project that included creating an extensive business plan, dealing with tricky zoning laws, and tasting enough wine to last a lifetime.

“We carry up to 300 different labels,” explains Greenfield. “Tasting and deciding what wine people wanted to buy was an onerous endeavor. “But,” she adds with a smile, “we didn’t complain too much.”

Their hard work bore fruit this past October when the long-awaited store opened its doors on Frederick Douglas Avenue and 120th Street. “People were so ready for us,” recalls Woods. “We had a sign in the window that read ‘Wine Store Coming’ and people kept peeking in asking ‘When are you opening?’”

The store has been packed since day one with curious customers. Bill Clinton’s nearby office called in a holiday order. And a recent Sunday afternoon found Columbia students comparing decanters alongside a couple dressed in their Sunday best inquiring about the stores “Wines of Color” selection, which features wines made by African Americans. The owners, who both work here nights and weekends and do deliveries, were quick to extol the virtues of a Ravenscroft decanter while encouraging the couple to go with a Thabani Sauvignon Blanc, from one of the South Africa’s few black-owned vineyards. Harlem Vintage boasts one of – if not the – largest selection of black and ethnic-owned wines in the country and this is the cornerstone on which the boutique was founded.

“Harlem is such a special place,” says Greenfield, “and we wanted the store and selection to reflect its rich history.” In addition to the Thabani label, the shop carries wines from the Robledo Family Winery in Sonoma, one of the few Mexican-American owned vineyards in California, and a bold Rosso di Montalcino from an estate owned by AOL Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons.

The shop also offers artisanal labels from Chile, New Zealand, and Long Island. Bottles are organized by varietal as opposed to region to “demystify” the selection process, and prices average around $15.

“We wanted to create a very unintimidating environment,” says Woods. With the help of a local architect, they created a welcoming store replete with stone walls, arched ceilings, and an abundance of candles. The warm personalities of the owners further disarm clients, and the daily in-store wine tastings help to inform Harlemites about wine. “Harlem consumers now have an opportunity to sample a variety of wines in their own community,” says Conrad Forte, a fellow wine store owner, “under the same conditions that residents of more affluent neighborhoods have taken for granted by virtue of privilege and circumstance.”

With their distinctive style and mission to educate Harlem, “one grape at a time,” it seems Greenfield and Woods are creating their own chapter in Harlem’s Renaissance.

The Stores Other Assets

A sense of community Although Woods has lived only three blocks away from the site of the store for over seven years, the duo knew they would have to be even more involved in this tight-knit community if they wanted to be embraced by it.

“We made an effort early in the process to align ourselves with community organizations,” says Greenfield. The pair joined the local chamber of commerce and networked with the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, conveying the message that the store was vital to the area.

They also incorporated neighboring businesses into the mix. The store features gift baskets with half bottles and products from local vendors, like the famous Settepani bakery and a local bath and body shop. A nearby gym trainer has come into the store for a seminar on the benefits of wine consumption. And a recent tasting was held at a salon specializing in braids.

Power Brokers While Woods grew up with a cellar in his house and was challenged by his dad to pick wine to pair with their family meals, Greenfield caught the bug in college, and later Wall Street, where she would have to host and order at client dinners. Their passion and enthusiasm for wine, coupled with their impressive educational and professional backgrounds: Georgetown, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, and Wall Street, creates what Woods jokingly refers to as “the perfect storm” and adds vision and credibility to an already potent blend.

Commitment to the cause Because of their dedication to blackowned vintners, the pair have given a wonderful platform to stellar but still under the radar wineries. Besides producer Jabulani Ntshangase’s Thabani label, the store showcases a lovely Burgundian styled Pinot Noir from Mac McDonald’s Vision Cellars in California, and an Ethiopian styled honey wine called Sheba Te’j. A collection highlight is the Lionel Hampton Cuvee, named after the Champagne-loving jazz xylophonist. Neighbors are sure to recognize the name as there’s a housing complex around the corner that bears Hampton’s name.