20
It Just Comes Natural
by CRAIG HUBERT
In 2019, Brian Heiss was managing a wine shop in
Fort Greene but wanted more responsibility and control.
A musician with a number of years working in
wine retail, he approached two musician pals, Steven
Reker and Matt Nelson, who also worked in the wine
business, and asked them if they wanted to open up a
new natural wine shop with him. They agreed.
After a long hunt, they found a space near the corner
of Classon and Greene avenues in Clinton Hill, an area
Heiss knows well, having previously attempted to
open a restaurant and wine bar in a spot on the same
block and living nearby. “I didn’t want to be anywhere
else,” he says.
The trio signed a lease in June 2020, three months
after the beginning of the pandemic, and applied for
a liquor licence soon after. The small space needed a
lot of work, Heiss says, but it was worth it to be in this
location. In October 2020, Radicle Wine was born.
“It’s been employee owned since the beginning and
will always be employee owned,” Heiss says about
the store. “Anyone that works here will have a percentage
of the business.”
The name stems from the term ‘radicle,’ the part
of a plant that forms the root and allows it to grow.
Heiss, who studied biochemistry in college, thought
the name fit the new store’s ethos. “I love the concept
of my first successful business being the thing
that anchors my future and provides strength as it
grows,” Heiss says.
Photos by Susan De Vries.
Radicle stocks only natural wines, but that phrase can
be vague these days. Heiss says the wine in the store
focuses on “biodynamics, organic viticulture, and no
intervention wine,” and he says he thinks of the wines
he and his team put on the shelves as consisting of only
“grapes and time.” You can find wines from all over the
world in the store, although their focus is wines from
France, Italy, and Central and Eastern Europe.
The pandemic slowed things down, as expected, and
initial plans for events at the store had to be postponed
as restrictions around COVID-19 continued.
But that hasn’t stopped locals, who can often be seen
lining up outside, from embracing the shop.
“It’s a strange feeling trying to grapple with so many of
my friends’ bars and restaurants having a really tough
time while the shop is doing so well,” Heiss says. “We’re
trying to help out in any way we can.”
As restrictions begin to loosen and life returns to
semi-normality, Heiss is looking toward the future
of the shop. The community they have built around
the store continues to grow, whether it be those who
hang around to chat with the congenial staff or those
who bounce around the shop listening to the store’s
great soundtrack (being musicians, all three owners
have deep record collections). Radicle doesn’t feel
like a traditional wine shop, stuffy and uninviting.
The atmosphere is easygoing and exploratory, more
approachable to a non-expert.
Plans are already being considered for the year ahead.
First and foremost will be tastings, which they plan to
introduce as soon as allowed. “Having something open
for our neighbors to try is so important to us,” Heiss
says. “It starts a conversation and allows people to try
things they might not want to do a whole bottle of.” Plus,
there’s a full stage in the basement (they are musicians,
after all), although they are still figuring out how to best
use that space. “There’s a lot of possibilities,” he says.
HAPPENINGS