Women and black winemakers are a huge focus. They’ve lived in Harlem for over 30 years and wanted to open a place that could showcase small production wines with a focus on community health. Harlem Wine Gallery has been around for the last four-and-a-half years, founded by Pascal and Daneen Lewis.

Impressively, it’s the only shop that I will feature in Manhattan! (Shoot, it’s the only wine shop that I will feature outside of Brooklyn…) It’s only fitting that we start with the shop that led me to write this article. Here is a guide to New York City’s Black-owned wine shops.

So, get ready to drink some excitingly delicious wines with me. Having the wine shop owner as a part of their community and serving their neighbors is an important fabric that must be celebrated. Based on recent census data, over two-thirds of NYC residents are BIPOC. Inclusivity is an important piece to any supply chain, especially with a population that has been historically under-represented in wine. (Trust me… this is not something you see often.)Īnd thus, a plan was hatched: I wanted to explore a collection of NYC’s coolest Black-owned bottle shops, with a focus on the kinds of wine that I really love to drink (these tend to be “natural”, minimal intervention, you know the deal). But what I found instead was a cool slice of the wine industry where both consumer and wine shop owner were people of color. I was greeted and helped by the owners, Pascal and Daneen Lewis, an entrepreneurial couple who have been gracing the community since 2017 with their impressive selection. Here I am, off of the very busy and lively 125th street, with cloudy-colored bottles from small producers that I am both familiar and unfamiliar with. While exploring Harlem, I came across a bottle shop called the Harlem Wine Gallery. Newly transplanted from the west coast, I, your narrator Akaash Saini, come to New York city in search of answers: Where can I find somewhat decent avocados? (Spoiler, you can’t…) Where can I develop a daily oat milk cappuccino habit? (Wait…what’s a flat white?) And finally, where can I find a wine shop that excites me? New York City is back! After more than a year of carefully being cramped up in tiny apartments, properly social-distancing, and doing their part to stop the spread of COVID-19, New Yorkers are out and about and ready to enjoy their summer! Parks, restaurants, streets: you can feel it everywhere! There’s an energy to this city in 2021 unlike anything else I’ve experienced.

New york wine shop