Brittney Abell
Current Wine Director at the Grape Collective Upper Montclair location, Brittney spends her days at the shop helping customers find their perfect bottle. Formerly the Wine Director for Skopos Hospitality, She has spent over a decade in the hospitality industry and the NJ wine scene educating staff and consumers on the practices of growing grapes and making wine sustainably. Her passion stems from her love of literature and the desire to walk a mile in other’s shoes. Opening a bottle helps her experience the love and passion others worked so hard to produce.
June 12, 2025
La Condesa Gin, Mexico’s Hidden Gem
Mexico is famously known for its agave-based spirits like tequila, mezcal and sotol. An award-winning master distiller is adding gin to that list. Hillhamn Salome is based in Mexico city and produces Condesa Gin. With a little help from her friends, Jordi Nieto and Ben Brooksby, Hillhamn strives to bring the world Mexico City in a bottle, changing the way…
October 3, 2022
Wines of Crete: Falling Back to Spring Forward
The wine world is an ever-evolving phenomenon with climate change, consumer awareness and economic strains. In order to be a successful winemaker in today's world, you need to be able to adapt at the drop of a dime. The winemakers of Crete have embraced this philosophy and their culture, tapping into their vast potential to create more quality wines from grape…
May 1, 2022
Keeping Sicilian Tradition and Resurrecting Forgotten Varietals with Massimo Padova of Riofavara
Turning on to the drive leading up to the Riofavara Vineyards in Val di Noto, the first thing you notice is all the plant and animal life thriving around you. The biodiversity on the vineyard is evident from the gate, butterflies abundant and flora in full bloom. Massimo Padova and his family have been growing vines for generations but only began…
February 24, 2022
The Eyrie Vineyards: Pioneers of Dueling Pinots
Founder, David Lett, began Eyrie Vineyards on a hunch and a dream. Destined for dentistry, David followed a different path after visiting a few California wineries while stationed in San Francisco for the Coast Guard. He was the first to plant Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in the Willamette Valley, becoming a benchmark to rival some of the best Burgundy.
December 10, 2021
Austin Winery: American Winemakers in an Urban City
The fellas at Austin Winery are anything but traditional winemakers. Cooper Anderson and Ross McLauchlan are navigating the wine world by following their own north star, as neither come to winemaking natively. It’s a path chosen rather than given, self taught, these gentlemen have encompassed in ten years what takes some wineries generations to obtain. Mastering first ‘conventional’ winemaking, then…
November 17, 2021
A Guide to Beer and Cheese Pairing
In the 1970s, both the artisan cheese movement and local craft breweries had a revival and began their momentum to become what we know today. Now, at their pinnacle, they can be enjoyed and even enhance each other. They compete with their long-standing European mates. These rules apply to all cheeses and beers regardless of where they hail. When it…
September 4, 2021
Barbara Gross of Cooper Mountain Vineyards: Talking Oregon Organics and the Future of Communication in the Wine Industry
Cooper Mountain Vineyards is a winery ahead of the curve in the Willamette Valley, being certified organic since the early '90s. Barbara Gross, co-owner and operator, sat down to speak with me about growing up on a Willamette vineyard, finding her place among the vines, and maintaining the spirit of the vineyard through the good times and the bad.
July 15, 2021
A Guide To Wine and Cheese Pairing
Some things in the culinary world were just meant to be together, like bread and butter or tomato and basil. But the most rewarding and complex pair of them all is wine and cheese. A marriage of flavors and textures that will eternally complement the other when paired successfully. Wine and cheese together elevate each other, or to misquote Aristotle,…
