Page 16 - Valley Table - Spring 2023

A New Way to Wine
Break out of your same-old sipping habits at Folkways, the Croton Falls shocp devoted to wines and spirits that are off-the-beaten path—and entirely delicious. BY JANET SIROTO
Jonas Andersen and Natalie Marie Gehrels
hances are, you have fallback
wines you grab when shopping: bottles that you know you love, and your guests do, too. Chances are, as well, that those vintages aren’t
from Hungary or Greece. But perhaps that will change, if Jonas Andersen and Natalie Marie Gehrels—the couple behind Folkways, a year-old Croton Falls wine shop—have their way.
Dedicated to discovery of wine, spirits, and the traditions that surround them, Folkways stocks globally sourced beverages, often natural
and organic, as well as the accoutrements that amp up their enjoyment.
Jonas and
Natalie come by
their international perspective
naturally. He was
born and raised
in Denmark, and
his career in the
food industry took
him to multiple
continents. Natalie,
a gifted, gallery-
represented ceramist, lived in Italy for a decade, honing her innate design sense.
As many Hudson Valley tales begin today, the couple were living in Brooklyn with son River, now 8, and felt the pull of a home upstate. A few years ago, they fell in love with a somewhat neglected house in Croton Falls and became immersed in restoring it. As they spent more time in the area, they noticed that finding
the kind of wine they loved—a little obscure, made in time- honored ways—was a struggle. They began schlepping their favorites up from NYC.
Goodbye to Brooklyn
Then came Covid, tossing plans—professional and personal—into the air.
Jonas had been working for restauranteur Claus Meyer’s Danish culinary empire as beverage director in the
Great Northern Food Hall and acclaimed Agern restaurant in Grand Central Station. Suddenly, the usual flood of commuters dwindled to a dribble and the food hall was shuttered. As NYC ground to a halt, the young family decided to decamp to upstate.
But the couple didn’t just reinvent their homebase; they also dreamed up a new professional life. Ready for
a different, more personal endeavor, they began hunting for a wine shop to call their own. “We had passion for wine and spirit-making and a deep understanding of the craft and the farming that goes along with it,” explains Natalie. “We wanted to share that and have a dialogue [with customers].”
As they began bidding on
locations, a bit of serendipity struck: The owner of a
Croton Falls wine shop that was housed in a charming landmark 1917 train station approached Jonas about doing some projects. He blurted out that while he wasn’t interested in that kind of work, he and his wife would like to buy her place. The shop owner and the couple struck a deal.
Folkways, Here We Come
The shop has a generous selection of wines from typical regions (France, Italy, California), notes Jonas, but surprises abound: “Slovenia has a really long and interesting winemaking history,” he says, “and our Greek section, with natural and orange wines, shows off a very hands-off, beautiful approach to making wine.”
14 TheValleyTable | March—May2023
PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN ALLEN AT HUDVALLEY PHOTO (@HUDVALLEYPHOTO)