When Marvina Robinson was in her 20s, she and her two childhood friends would pool together their summer job money to sip champagne in red plastic cups in front of their Bed-Stuy stoops.
“That’s when the big era of BET [Black Entertainment Television] was out there — and you see people in the videos when they’re in the club, they’re drinking champagne and all the fanciness,’” Robinson said. “We could really only afford one bottle.”
Two decades later, Robinson is one of the few Black women entrepreneurs in the sparkling wine industry. She left her longtime finance job in Wall Street to open B. Stuyvesant Champagne, a champagne company and tasting room based in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard.
Being Dora the Explorer
Robinson’s early love of sparkling wine led her to start giving Champagne bottles as gifts to coworkers and clients. She wanted more people to savor different notes, aromas, and bubbles.
“I don’t think champagne is just for celebration — it’s a myth,” Robinson said. “Champagne can be paired with everyday meals, it can be paired with a seven-course tasting menu. It’s more about enjoying the wine.”
It was easy enough to get champagnes from the big makers, yet she often sought rarer bottles from smaller houses. Robinson would delve into their distinctive notes and the vineyard they came from, so she could be intentional with her gifts and educate her friends along the way.
Soon she started traveling to the Champagne area of France to learn more about the time-honored libation.
“I’m like Dora the Explorer,” she said.
In Champagne, conversations with a vineyard owner grew into a partnership where the venue exclusively produces for Robinson’s business.
When she finally decided to start B. Stuyvesant Champagne in 2021, Robinson knew it would be based right in her neighborhood. She rented out part of a warehouse in Bed-Stuy, then shifted to the Navy Yard two years ago.
Slowing down to sip the champagne
As a first-time entrepreneur in a heavily regulated industry, Robinson had to navigate a litany of unknowns. Figuring out wine labels and personalizing champagne foils, corks, wire cages, boxes, and packaging was daunting. So were licensing and shipping logistics.
It helped that Robinson had a master’s degree in statistics from Columbia University and took a women’s entrepreneurship course at Cornell University. That education — and the life lessons from years working on Wall Street — had bolstered her problem-solving and project management skills.
Still, it took a while for Robinson to feel comfortable with her less stable path after finance: “I changed my career after 40 and most people are sometimes scared to do it because who wants to mess up their cash flow, right?” she said. “Do I miss my job? I missed my checks, I missed my PTO, but I love what I do right now.”
The joy is a slow burn: seeing the end product, then seeing people with her champagne when she’s walking around, knowing others have gifted it like she did.
“Champagne is like a white T-shirt”
Robinson encourages people to explore sparkling wines. Some like it sweeter, others less so. Some prefer a Spanish cava over an Italian prosecco or a French champagne. Sometimes it takes putting a brown paper bag over the wines to cover them up to taste what truly drives your palate, Robinson says.
As the most labor-intensive wine, and one coming from a relatively small region, champagne has a higher price point than others. Still, Robinson stresses champagne can be more accessible than some people realize.
“Champagne is like a white T-shirt — if you want to wear a white T-shirt, you wear a white T-shirt,” Robinson said. “You have different types of white T-shirts, right? You have some from Fruit of the Loom, you have the Gap, you have James Perse, you have Alexander McQueen, a Gucci T-shirt. So just different levels of what you feel comfortable with and what you want to explore.”
Robinson is exploring the balance between the growth of B. Stuyvesant Champagne and making time for herself. A staff of four fulfills tasting experiences and small and large orders ranging from 20 to 1,000 bottles: “Expanding inventory, catering to consumers, being in a consumer-focused business, it’s not for the weak,” she said.
While the goal is to further expand, Robinson says she also takes time to slow down and enjoy her favorite drink. These days, when she goes out with her two childhood friends from the era of red plastic cups on the stoop, she chooses self-care.
“Sometimes I just need a break from talking about champagne,” Robinson said. “We could drink it, but I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about business — I want to have my friends and that’s it. And I think that’s the thing about being a small business owner, but also embracing, knowing that this small business won’t be small forever.”
Building 3, 63 Flushing Ave Suite 606, Brooklyn
Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Friday 11 a.m.- 3 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday CLOSED
Follow on Instagram at @stuyvesantchampagne
