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La guerra di vino in Red Hook è finita!
After a month of opposition from a nearby competitor, a new Red Hook wine store has finally received its license from the State Liquor Authority.
The epic wine war on Van Brunt Street between the owners of the two stores, Dry Dock and Botta di Vino, climaxed not with a bang but with a whimper — a quick, unanimous and quiet hearing by the liquor authority.
“No one showed up [to oppose it]. Case closed, that was it,” said a relieved Triciann Botta, one of the owners of the store that bears her name.
Now, Botta hopes to open Botta di Vino next week.
The uneventful denouement is a far cry from late February, when the war of the rosé was at its peak.
The owners of the new Dry Dock at Van Brunt and Wolcott streets, Ron and Mary Kyle, had opposed the Botta’s application on the grounds that the neighborhood could not sustain two high-end wine vendors in such close proximity.
To add a little resentment to the mix, the Botta’s posh store was built on the Discovery Channel’s dime as part of an upcoming reality show called, “Construction Intervention.”
And just to add a few more sour grapes, a “bulletproof” liquor store is only one block from Botta di Vino, which is between Wolcott and Dikeman streets.
That meant three wine vendors within only four blocks of each other.
In the end, the liquor authority chose to ignore the Kyle’s claim — though the couple did successfully delay the Bottas’ license by raising a last-minute objection over a sentence on the Botta di Vino Web site that suggested that customers could enjoy a glass of wine in their courtyard.
All that did was delay the Bottas’ license for two weeks. But in the end, the board approved the application — though one of the commissioners offered a parting word of advice.
“Anything you’re not sure you should do, ask your lawyer first!” said Commissioner Noreen Healey.
Botta, who was eager to open her store, said that Red Hook had grown weary of the showdown.
“I think the consensus in the neighborhood is that small businesses are a good thing and should support each other,” she said.
The Kyles did not respond to a request for comment.
©2010 Community Newspaper Group
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