grape escape
With the giant ships long gone, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is adapting with a new vineyard, distillery, peaceful park and more
Y OU’RE more likely to grab a cocktail than board a ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The old shipyard, at Wallabout Bay and the East River and next to the Vinegar Hill neighborhood, once housed the US Navy’s finest fleets in the 19th and early-20th centuries. It earned the nickname “the Can-Do Yard” for playing a pivotal role in World War II, where more than 70,000 workers built warships and aircraft and transported supplies.
The Navy base closed in 1966, but more recently it’s been redeveloped as a hub for commercial real estate and manufacturing. Steiner Studios, which is on its grounds, is home to TV shows “Girls” and “The Affair.” And in the past year, a wave of trendy haunts have popped up on the 4-million-square-foot lot.
Rooftop Reds (Building 275, the Navy Yard, Fourth St., Brooklyn), billing itself as “the world’s first rooftop vineyard,” was cofounded by Chris Papalia, 32, and Devin Shomaker, 32, after they met at Finger Lakes Community College’s wine school.
Opened in April, the 14,800square-foot space has 42 planters containing 168 grapevines, which this fall will yield about 30 cases of vino, to be sold in its tasting room.
Meanwhile, visitors can try a variety of wines from New York’s Finger Lakes region. Highlights include RTR cabernet franc rosé ($8 a glass), a full-bodied sip with notes of dark cherry and a hint of jalapeño, and Hosmer sauvignon blanc ($8 a glass), a light drink with pops of apricot and a lemongrass finish.
But Rooftop Reds offer more than just wine on a roof: It also has picnic tables, four hammocks overlooking Downtown Brooklyn, and a chill crowd of young professionals mingling — and playing cornhole. On a breezy Saturday evening in the tasting room, a trio of women wearing off-the-shoulder tops and patterned maxiskirts were trying rosés.
“This area used to be a ghost town,” Brianna Cheng, a 21year-old NYU student, says. “So it’s great to see places like this pop up.”
New York City staples like Brooklyn Brewery, Russ & Daughters and Mast Brothers are expected to open in the fall.