Attention, Brooklyn Vinophiles: Court Street Has Its Own Wine

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Guest blogger month at Curbed continues with Brooks of Sheffield aka Lost City taking the reins. He'll be offering up Carroll Gardens-specific musings till Friday, and will occasionally throw us a bone. Today, we're talking Brooklyn wine.

We might have have expected Carroll Gardens' high-minded boutique wine shop Smith & Vine to eventually start bottling its own wine. But Scotto's Wine Cellar, the old standby on Court Street?

Court Street Red, as it's called, was whipped up for Scotto's by the Coturri & Sons winery in Sonoma County according to the specifications of Jim Benedetto, who bought the shop from the Scotto family back in 1989. Jim was obviously going for a big boy on this one; the wine is 40 percent zinfindel and 40 percent petite syrah. Those are two of the boldest red grapes out there. (Small amounts of seven or eight other varietals round out the mix.)

I was advised to let the Court Street Red breathe for an hour before I tried it, and I did. As expected, it's a big jammy monster, just about right for a big bowl of pasta with a heavy red sauce. In other words, perfect for much of the clientele Scotto's services.

The shop says sales are brisk and there are plans to bring out further bottlings, including a white. Carroll Park Chardonnay? F Train Falanghina?