Mar 29

Mar 29 The Wine Hustle Series | Alie Shaper + Robin Epperson-McCarthy of Chronicle Wines

New York City has a palpable energy that is euphoric and at times, hard to describe its culturally freeing feeling. One of the things I love (and miss) most is the collaboration between its robust hospitality industry and it’s proudness to promote locally sourced food, entertainment, arts etc. Everyone is looking to champion and cross-promote each other with that “New York Proud” backbone fueling its energy.

Alie Shaper and Robin Epperson-McCarthy are two women in wine who are doing just that. They are creating immersive experiences on how we taste and interact with wine through supporting and partnering with nearby friends in food, hospitality and art. Through locally sourced collaborations (like their most recent with the North Fork Donut Company x Chronicle Wine Spritzers Pop-up), they are a brand to watch and stay close to as they continue to introduce fun and exciting partnerships with their quality wines! It’s certainly a fresh take on how we drink and think about wine that I personally love to see! These two are a force and cannot wait to see where their journey in wine leads them to! Read on…

Website: Chronicle Wines | Instagram: @drinkchronicle / @alieshaper / @robinepp

Photo Cred: Madison Fender ( @madison_fender)

How did you get your start in wine and what was your initial inspiration?

Alie: I think I accidentally discovered wine, and wine bumped into me. There isn’t anyone else in my family who’s part of the industry, I come from a line of engineers. I took a wine course in college as an elective, and as a way to not have an analytical math class for once, hah! I’ve always been a very artistic person and a musician, so the creative and intuitive side of wine appealed to me very much, once I started delving into studying it. It grew as a hobby, then became an intense interest. In my late twenties I realized that I wasn’t exactly spending my working life in alignment with who I was and how I wanted to spend my time on this earth. I started just casually looking around for an entry-level position in “something else”, and just by looking, I discovered my first wine job.

Robin: There wasn’t any one moment that kicked off my wine career. Like most I fell into it unintentionally and fell in love with the culture. I grew up on the North Fork in the 1980-1990’s when the wine industry was in an expansion phase. The North Fork Wine scene was still finding its footing and I was too young to drink. Wine was always around and my grandparents loved French wines but I wasn’t interested in the pretentiousness of their wine culture. It wasn't until I was in college at the University of Mary Washington in VA visiting a shop called Mo Wine (that had a great selection of microbrews) that I stumbled across Spy Valley Unoaked Chardonnay. At that moment I realized wine did not have to be pretentious. It could be contemporary and approachable for everyone. After graduating with a BS in biochemistry I ended up working in a wine lab for harvest to earn some money while studying for my MCAT exam when I fell in love with the industry. Two years later I never took the MCATS and I was working harvest in Marlborough, NZ getting a private tour with the enologist at Spy Valley Winery.

I love that you are two women who "New York Proud” supporting and partnering with nearby friends in food, hospitality + art! How does this come to life within your brand?

A: For me that began with my very first brand, Brooklyn Oenology; it’s messaging is centered around the celebration of the convergence of creativity, culinary magic, and community that is found in Brooklyn and greater NYC. I founded the brand to celebrate it, by pairing contemporary artworks from local artists on each of the wines. I think this collaborative outlook is also just part of how our community operates, here on the East End, because all of these sub-communities have grown and expanded together in the past several decades, and largely because they’ve consciously chosen to work together to collaborate and cross-promote our cultural bounty. We’ve all worked really hard to produce the best we can, and to continue to learn and improve.

R: We have such an amazing culinary scene evolving out here on the North Fork that our cooperation is happening organically. A winemaker having lunch with a local chef inevitably will lead to conversations about wine and food pairings. Surrounded by a bounty of fresh ingredients from land and sea leads to some amazing creativity. I was very hesitant to use the term terroir until I became part of the agricultural community of the East End. Now, I understand it to defines the interplay of art, food and wine in one particular place, at one particular time.

““Wine can be enjoyed anywhere with anyone. Even made from local fruit on the roof of the world.””

What is the best advice anyone’s ever given you? Do you have a “mantra” you stick to

A: My dad is my North Star, and I also learned a lot about business from him. As he describes being a business owner, it is all about “Ready - Fire - Aim!”, instead of “Ready - Aim - Fire!” You can plan and plan and plan, but you can’t expect to have everything exactly in place before you get started; you have to just start, and course correct as you go along. My personal mantra is more like a set of “touchstone” words that I carry with me everyday: serendipity, courage, persistence, gratitude… I thank the Universe each day for gifting me these things and enabling me to have an amazing life.

R: There is a saying in the wine industry that goes, people drink in times of joy, people drink in times of sorrow and people drink on every occasion in between. Over the past year this has been a saying that friends in the industry have repeated to each other as things shut down in NY and we faced an uncertain harvest. Winemakers plan their production years in advance, I repeated this saying to myself daily during the 2020 harvest. I was making wine that had no idea if I could even sell in the coming year(s). My personal mantra comes from my local sailing community, Hold Fast, Stay true: this is what we say to each other on the boat in times of peril when we need to hold onto something to keep yourself secure while also staying the course to make it to your destination together.

At WINEFARER, we love hearing about the unexpected journeys that stem from wine. Can you share your favorite wine journey with us?

A: I now have a second family in Australia and live there part of the year! I met my winemaker husband in the fall of 2015, when he was hired as part of the harvest season crew at Premium Wine Group (where we produce our wine). Since the Northern and Southern hemispheres have opposite harvest seasons, Tim came from Australia to work in NY for vintage. Little did I know that year that I’d fall in love, and gain a second home on the other side of the world. We now grow grapes together in McLaren Vale too.

R: One of my other passions is trekking. In the spring of 2014 while backpacking on the Annapurna Trek in Nepal I came across a local wine for sale sitting in the stone wall that lined the never ending stone staircase up the mountain. It was wine of an unknown fruit origin packaged in a reused soda bottle. Wine is defined as alcohol made from fermented fruit. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the history of the more traditional v. vinifera wines that we forget that wine can be made from any type of fruit. Wine can be enjoyed anywhere with anyone. Even made from local fruit on the roof of the world.

It seems like you love wine as much as I do, in three words, describe your love affair with wine?

A: Flavor, creativity, and togetherness
R: Wine for all.

Finally, what advice would you give women entrepreneurial spirits who want to start their “wine hustle” but are hesitant to take the leap?

A: I was an engineer before I was a winemaker, and it wasn’t an overnight transformation into becoming a wine industry veteran; my first job in wine was part-time as one of the hospitality staff in a tasting room. From there, I built my experience and knowledge, and I grew my foundation until I felt I understood the wine industry well enough to make a start in my own business. The key is to just start somewhere, and to find value and learning in every experience and opportunity. Success is not at the endpoint of your effort - your biggest success is in making the decision to give it a shot in the first place!

R: Hold Fast, Stay true. Once you start out on your path do not let people alter your path for you. It is okay to change course and sometimes very necessary. You will get a lot of unsolicited advice but it is up to you and you alone to choose your direction. Listen to all the advice mentors give you freely but only follow the advice that keeps true to YOUR course.