Last year, we launched our ‘Greenpoint at Work’ series to highlight people living and working in the area.
For this edition, we spoke with Joanna Zablocki, a born-and-raised Greenpoint resident who opened Grapepoint Wines (155 Norman Ave.) when she was only 25.
Check out our last profile here.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell us a little about you, and how you ended up in this field?
I started my business in 2012, and I was at the very young age of 25. I was working in the city as an assistant project manager, so I had your typical office job. And my hours were very long. I quickly realized that office work was not what I was meant to do. I didn’t like the confinement of being inside a building. I barely saw daylight. I came in when it was dark. I left when it was dark. So a long story short, I did end up quitting that job, not knowing what to do, trying to find myself, as I guess most middle, mid-20s to late 20s, are kind of trying to do.They’re trying to figure out their place in the world. What am I really meant to be doing?
I took a bold step, quit my job, and decided to use my savings to travel to Spain and Portugal, where I spent six weeks. And really, in Spain and Portugal is where I got inspired by wine. This wasn’t my first time in Europe, because I’ve been a couple times before. But this was my first very long trip for six weeks, where I was able to really kind of immerse myself in European culture. And one thing that stands out in Spain is wine and tapas. That’s a big deal.
I come back to New York, I realize this is what I want to do, and I get a regular retail position at a wine store to kind of start to learn the business. I worked there for six months, and they let me go. Maybe I helped them enough at that time, or maybe they caught on that maybe I was asking too many questions, I’m not exactly sure, but they did let me go, and at that point, I realized, okay, I have enough information, I can get started, and that’s how it started.
At first, I went to the State Liquor Authority. This is, like, where you’re so young and so bold, you know? I went to the State Liquor Authority by myself without a lawyer. I filed my own application, and I went there by myself, didn’t hire a lawyer, and went in front of the authorities. And I didn’t get my license the first time I went, and then I realized, okay, maybe I do need to hire a lawyer, and I did hire one, and I was granted a wine license at that time, not a full liquor license.
Currently, I do have a full liquor license where I can sell spirits, but back then in 2012, I was only granted a wine license. So that’s how my journey began.
Is there a wine in particular that stood out to you during your travels?
You know, there’s not one specific moment that stands out, but definitely I was drinking red wine, and if I had to guess, it was probably their main grape, which is Tempranillo.
It was just kind of, you know, walking the streets and being inspired. It’s like this feeling of hunger. Like, I’m so motivated and excited and so much is ahead of me.
And so what does a typical day on the job look like?
So for me, I do a lot of the operations at my shop. I really kind of do it all, because I do my accounting and bookkeeping as well. I do my financials, I do my bills and the operations, and I do the wine buying. So that’s a big chunk of my role at the shop. It’s really behind the scenes work, making sure that the store is operating, between reordered inventory, between paying the bills, like really kind of nitty gritty stuff, kind of monotonous work.
And then the fun part of my job is the wine buying. So that’s when I meet with sales representatives. They come into the shop and they’ll show me a lineup of different things. And then sometimes I go to trade shows. Usually, there’s two big times that they do it, the springtime when we’re getting ready for rosé season and the wintertime when we’re getting ready for the fall season.
What would you say is your favorite part of the job?
I have two favorites. Wine buying is a way for me to keep up on trends and interact with my sales people, who have a completely different perspective of the wine industry because their roles in the business are completely different from my roles. So that’s always fun and it’s always fun to try new things.
And then I really also like to engage with my customers, create that relationship, create that sort of friendship. A lot of my customers have become friends. I see them in the neighborhood. We say hi to each other. Our kids play together. Some of our kids, they go to the same schools, you know? Building that community—that’s what inspired me. It was people coming together. And so when I initially really started it, it was that community aspect. Building the community and having locals who become friends is more than I could ask for.
Wine is so personal, it kind of becomes a shorthand of getting to know people in this really intimate way.
Absolutely, wine is a whole experience for me, from A to Z, and it starts with walking into the shop, and it starts with browsing and sometimes even just touching the bottles, looking at the labels. It’s an entire experience and when you get to know the customer and their palate, it’s easier to make suggestions.
So you’re right, if I have a repeat customer coming in and they like, for example, a full body red and let’s say I brought in a new full body red, but maybe it’s from a different region. Or maybe it’s a different grape variety. They trust me enough to make that suggestion and 99% of the time I’m spot on. They come back and they tell me, wow, that is, I did like that. Sometimes they’ll buy it again, but a lot of times they’re open to finding something new. I love that. I love that about people, just being open to tiny things because there’s so much good wine out there.
I feel like Greenpoint people, because we have such a great food scene and people are pretty creative and adventurous when it comes to their taste, I feel like people are probably willing to try things.
The other thing that I like to tell people—come to the store tastings. They’re completely free, and there’s never any pressure at my shop. You want to just pop in and try something, cool, I love that, and the reason why is because this expands their knowledge. Not about wine in general, but about what they like.
It’s not really important for the consumer to know about wine. You don’t have to know about wine. You just have to know what you like.
What are some of your favorite neighborhood spots?
I do go to Karczma (136 Greenpoint Ave.) a lot. I like Charlotte Patisserie (596 Manhattan Ave.)—their cakes and coffee. I’m a coffee drinker, I go to [Cafe] Grumpy’s (193 Meserole Ave.), I go to Kaleidoscope (151B Nassau Ave.), and Charlotte Patisserie, those are my top three coffees.
If I’m getting pierogi, the best ones are at Krajan Polish Deli (160 Nassau Ave.).
For drinks and wine, I like Pan Pan Vino Vino, which recently changed their name (120 Norman Ave.), Lise and Vito (126A Nassau Ave.), Milk and Roses (35 Box St.), El Born (651 Manhattan Ave.), Achilles Heel (180 West St.), and The Hidden Pearl (621 Manhattan Ave.).
What do you do when you’re not working?
Well, I have a nine-year-old daughter, so she keeps me busy. We do a lot of different things from Broadway shows [to] when it’s nice and warm out, we bike a lot. At home, I love to cook. That’s something that I do several times a week.I’m cooking often whenever I have the time.
And really just being outside with my daughter, we love winter activities. We’ve been doing a lot of ice skiing, we go skiing. So we kind of did things with the season, and I kind of let her guide us a little bit, because she’s the little boss of me.
But I like ice skating down by Domino Park because it’s super close, and we often go to Bryant Park for some ice skating in the city.
What do you find yourself drinking or gravitating towards these days in terms of wine?
I typically like to drink things that are organic, natural, that are minimal intervention types of wines, which are very much on trend.
There’s Cal Xurriu – Instint Animal Orange 2024. This is an orange wine from Catalonia, Spain. It is fresh, mineral-driven and aromatic.
Then there’s another one that I just got from Italy, from Sicily, and it’s a co-ferment—Agricola Kalma – Lifasi 2024. This one is whimsical. It’s fresh and slightly tart with a sour cherry finish.
A co-ferment means they use white grapes and red grapes. These wines are so fun. They’re so unique. Their taste is completely different. You can’t put it into a category, to be honest.
They’re light-bodied reds, but they don’t taste quite like a light-bodied red. It’s an experience of its own. You’d have to just go out there and try a co-ferment.
Do you have a job that you’re passionate about? Email [email protected] for possible consideration for a ‘Greenpoint at Work’ feature.