PROSPECT
WINE SHOP
Featured in an article about neighborhood wine merchants in

THE PARK SLOPE READER
(Winter 2004 Edition)

Here's an excerpt (the entire article, by Stephanie Miller, is available on The Park Slope Reader's Web site):

"Red, white or rose? Still or sparkling? For many of us, entering a wine store is like crossing the border into a foreign country where we don't speak the language. Park Slope is home to a variety of wine shops, each with its own distinct flavor-and fortunately all staffed by knowledgeable people who want to help you find the right bottle at the right price, for a great wine experience.

Prospect Wine Shop
322 7th Avenue
(btwn. 8th & 9th Sts)
718.768.1232
www.prospectwine.com

"When asked why she thinks wine shopping is such a daunting task, Amy Louise Pommier, manager of the Prospect Wine Shop, immediately responds, 'People are intimidated because we don't learn in school how to describe tastes. I think that's really a pity. We aren't taught to be attuned to taste and smell and to articulate what we perceive. But it's never too late, and I encourage people to not be intimidated, to just say what they think and then I try to pinpoint what wine fits that description for them.'

"Pommier has been trying to fit wines and words together for nearly two decades. Her 18-year professional career in wine is preceded by an eclectic range of jobs that included working as a potter, as an editor, and in advertising and marketing. She has been with the Prospect Wine Shop since it opened in April 2000.

"Amy becomes animated the moment she begins to speak about the shop and the neighborhood. 'I love working in Park Slope,' she says, 'because it's a real neighborhood. I feel like I'm part of a community here in a wonderful way. I walk down the street and see people that I know from the shop: I've actually become good friends with a few people in the neighborhood.'

"In Pommier's ideal world, every wine in the shop would be organic: customers will notice a special section dedicated to organic and biodynamic wines, an issue about which Pommier is passionate. Her focus on organic wine is only one element that Pommier believes differentiates Prospect Wine Shop from other shops in the area. Amy admits that she has a 'real bias toward supporting individual farmer winemakers who are doing something really beautiful that they give their hands and hearts to the whole year, and that can be felt and tasted in the bottle. I'd like to think that we are in the forefront of New York wine stores in conveying the magic and beauty of something that is really hand made, that has soul.'

"Based on her commitment to smaller, handcrafted wines, the shop has a wide selection of Old World wines (those from traditional European wine making countries like France, Italy and Germany) that can usually be purchased for a more reasonable price. Her interest in Old World wines is about more than style. Many Old World wines are made with more obscure grape varieties. As more growers pull up their unique regional grapes in favor of something more marketable, such as Chardonnay, Pommier worries that we are losing precious biodiversity. By selling wines with more obscure grapes, she believes that she is doing her part to help sustain a market for distinct, diverse grapes the world over.

"Pommier has assembled a representative selection of all the major New World areas -from California to Chile to Australia.

"For customers interested in learning about wine from a specific region or grape, Prospect Wine Shop hosts free tastings every Saturday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Amy has even brought winemakers in from as far away as France to share their wines and speak with customers. When the weather is
pleasant, tastings take place on the shop's rear deck.

"Ultimately, whether a wine is from Europe or North America, organic or traditionally made, Amy Pommier is adamant that it has to be delicious to find a place on any shelf in the shop."