2 brothers open Gritty City Winery in North Philadelphia
Tim and Mike Capuzzi's love of wine comes from their Italian grandparents.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two brothers. One major passion for wine.
On Friday, they officially open the doors on a brand new, homegrown venture in the Olde Kensington section of Philadelphia: Gritty City Winery.
Tim and Mike Capuzzi grew up in Philadelphia.
Their love of wine comes from their Italian grandparents, who brought their winemaking tradition with them when they came here in 1920.
The brothers were making wine from home when they decided to open one of our region's first small-batch urban wineries with Philly flair, and of course, grit.
"We are bootstrapping this business," Mike says. "We are entirely self-taught winemakers. We don't have degrees in viticulture. We are not sommeliers. We really want our story to be an inspiration for people that anyone, anywhere can learn something new, as long as you have the grit and determination to do so."
The Capuzzis' goal is to do for wine what craft breweries have done for beer: make it personal and approachable.
Tim and Mike make everything from scratch -- from Sauvignon Blanc to Chardonnay, Malbec to Pinot Noir.
"We have 11 varietals that we're producing here," Tim says. "Right now, we're featuring four of our house wines and then two of our reserve wines."
Visit Gritty City Winery in Olde Kensington, or at Flanigan's Boathouse and the Below Deck Bottle Shop in Conshohocken.
The brothers are also planning to offer tours and wine tastings, and they have a full calendar of fall events as they officially launch here in Philadelphia.
