Hi! My name is Robert Dwyer. I'm a wine enthusiast living in the western suburbs of Boston. I write this blog to help people enjoy wine more while spending less money. Read more...
If you'd like to contact me, send me wine or a wine accessory for review, mention a great wine deal, promote your wine business, point out a typo/misused word/outright error, or otherwise connect with me:
“This is good news for Massachusetts wine enthusiasts, who will now be able to purchase wines they currently don’t have access to,” said Robert Dwyer of Wellesley, who blogs about wine. “This is also good news for Massachusetts in general since it will mean new revenues.”
I wrote this article in WellesleyWeston Magazine featuring local food & wine experts like Chef Ming Tsai, Mike O'Connell Jr., Chris Minervino, and Austin Moran. Check it out!
I shared my thoughts on the direct shipment of wine to Massachusetts with CBS Boston during hearings at the State House.
This site was listed as one of the Top 100 Wine Blogs:
Our Scoop the Spectator contest was mentioned on Palate Press:
"Bob Dwyer, a Massachusetts-based wine blogger, has created the coolest parlor game in wine, and for once it’s a wine contest that does not involve blind tasting.
I used to think the entire concept of a Top 100 list was silly. This year, mine was the first guess on Dwyer’s site."
"Robert P. Dwyer of Wellesley, who blogs about wine at thewww.wellesleywinepress.com, calls the state’s liquor laws bizarre and favors a wider availability of wine. For consumers, it would be more convenient to be able to buy wine at a supermarket while shopping for food, he said."
“You have this strange exclusion of wine, which in Europe is considered a grocery item,” said Mr. Dwyer. “Here it’s considered the demon rum.”
"trying to predict the annual Wine of the Year is a popular parlor game among enophiles. This year, blogger Wellesley Wine Press held a contest, with New York wine retailer Grapes the Wine Co. awarding a prize of a Kindle Fire e-reader to the first commenter to correctly guess this year's top wine before it was announced. Unfiltered was impressed with the number of Top 10 wines prognosticated by Wellesley's readers. "Senelwine" guessed Château de St.-Cosme Gigondas 2009, our No. 10 wine, "Mike M" guessed Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional Douro 2008, our No. 7 wine, "James Z" guessed Baer Ursa Columbia Valley 2008, our No. 6 wine, and "RichardPF" nailed it, winning the Kindle, and the respect of his wine-loving peers. Looks like Wellesley's readers know their wine."
The Chicago Tribune's Bill Daley mentioned the site in Rosé: A wine for more seasons. I said "For me, they're like pumpkin spice coffee drinks: best enjoyed early in the season". Bill alsogave the site a shout-out for a piece the Capitol Case Clubcontributed about restaurant wine service. I thought it was a great example of how print wine writers can effectively engage wine bloggers.
Boston University wine educator Stacy Woods mentioned this site alongside wine blogging powerhouses Vinography and Fermentation. Wow- that's great company to be in! Thanks- I appreciate it.
WBZ-TV, the Boston CBS affiliate, interviewed me aboutMassachusetts wine shipping laws. It was kind of surreal having a camera crew in our kitchen but we enjoyed it! Check it out:
Wine Enthusiast Magazine called me a "wine accessory guru". Thanks! I appreciate it.
The Boston Globe's website has been linking to my recent entries as part of their expanded local coverage includingWellesley. I truly appreciate that as it has driven a lot of local traffic to this site.
It was really nice of Thomas Matthews, Executive Editor of Wine Spectator to leave a comment and then check back and answer some questions I had. Awesome guy! Check it out here. And here.
Thanks to The Boston Globe for including The Wellesley Wine Press in their list of local blogs in the Food & Drink section. Check it out here.
The Wellesley Wine Press was just added tohttps://wine.alltop.com. Alltop is an interesting topical take on sorting through the best sites on the Internet- check it out and see which sites are listed for topics you're most interested in.
Update: This deal sold out as of 10am today. Follow me on Twitter (@RobertDwyer) for faster notification of deals like this.
Update 2: The Urban Grape and Groupon canceled this deal after discovering this sort of alcohol promotion was illegal in Massachusetts (more on their blog here). No deal for you!
Group buying is hot lately. Today's deal on Groupon looks like one of the best I've seen for Boston-area wine enthusiasts: $15 for a $35 voucher to The Urban Grape in Chestnut Hill (review). I just bought 3.
Not a member of Groupon yet? Take advantage of this deal and they'll kick $10 back to my Groupon account. Check it out:
This past weekend we did our grocery shopping at Trader Joe's for the first time in a long time. I don't know why exactly but lately we've been going to Whole Foods more. Maybe it's because Trader Joe's feels more suited to young metropolitan singles and young couples than Whole Foods which feels like it's more targeted at families. They don't sell diapers at Trader Joe's and that says a lot about their target demographic.
I'd forgotten how fun it is to shop for wine at Trader Joe's. As much as I've been trying to curb wine spending lately I couldn't resist tossing in a couple of lower-priced bottles. Over the years they've really bolstered their selection of wines just above their rock-bottom-priced/famous Charles Shaw wines. They've got other wines between $3 and $10 that are fun to try because they've got such cool personalities: Interesting labels, interesting grape varieties, and interesting regions. Their buyers really know what they're doing and it's evident in the smiles you see on customer's faces and in the average amount of wine in a shopping cart in the store.
I picked up a few really inexpensive wines and then this one caught my eye: the 2007 Picket Fence Pinot Noir. I've seen the wine around before and the attractive label caught my eye. Something about it feels well suited to sharing with friends - especially neighbors.
I was anxious to crack open a bottle of it because I don't think it's going to last long. Why? Because it's a $30 wine they're selling for $8.99. It wasn't mind-blowingly amazing but I thought it was an elegant representation of Pinot Noir from Sonoma's highly regarded Russian River Valley appelation. It's also from a highly regarded vintage (Wine Spectator called 2007 the best vintage ever for California Pinot Noir).
Visually, this wine is quite thin. But then again maybe it's varietally correct and the rest of the overblown California Pinot Noir I've been drinking is overly dark. Typical Pinot Noir aromas of strawberries and tart cherries but I get some slightly-green/twangy/stemmy aromas as well that I could have done without. I get these notes quite frequently in Russian River Valley Pinot Noir so depending on whether these bother you, you may want to proceed with caution. Quite nice on the palate with satisfying weight and creamy light vanilla notes. Seemed like lowish acidity. Nice aftertaste. Medium length of finish. I would have gone 90 points on this wine if not for the ever-so-slightly-off aromas. Your mileage may vary - I'd encourage you to check it out if you can find it under $15.
88/100 WWP: Very Good
Where to Buy: $8.99 at Trader Joe's in Framingham, MA
I've been unsubscribing myself from a lot of E-mail distributions of all kinds lately. I found I wasn't acting on the offers in the E-mail yet I was spending more time than I should researching and considering the offer. I think E-mail is an extremely effective way to keep in touch with customers. Let us know you're still in business, let us know about significant deals, tell us a story. But daily E-mails about "killer" deals that really aren't that compelling at all? Unsubscribe.
Against this backdrop, I was pleased to receive a very targeted E-mail from Wine Enthusiast yesterday. Since I bought a EuroCave a couple years ago they wanted to let me know that they were closing out the shelving that goes with the unit at 40% off. The newer style shelves are made of beechwood (lighter) whereas the older are made of sapele (darker). I called them right up at 800-377-3330 and they looked up the model I own to make sure the shelves were a good match. They were and I ordered the shelves with a total of 5 minutes of interaction. Well done!
I pass this along in case you own an older Eurocave and didn't get the E-mail for whatever reason. Sounds like a good time to outfit your refrigerator with the perfect shelving. Kudos to the folks at Wine Enthusiast for the useful targeted E-mail campaign.
I've been meaning to write up some thoughts on my Eurocave and on wine refrigerators in general. I haven't gotten around to it, but if you have questions on the subject and would like to bounce some ideas off me I'm all ears: wellesleywinepress@gmail.com -or- @RobertDwyer on Twitter.
The same deal is available through Amazon.com and fulfilled by Wine Enthusiast - check it out:
I wasn't sure what to make of this event until I saw the photo below. Looks like it's right up our alley! What: Aura Restaurant at the Seaport Hotel makes it easy to take your children to a nice restaurant with this month’s Fine Dining ‘Family Style’! Aura’s popular family evening out celebrates back to school with play time and story time. The idea of Fine Dining, ‘Family Style’ is that kids and parents can enjoy great cuisine in a kid friendly, relaxed environment, and this month is no exception. Chef Rachel Klein has created several special hot new Bento boxes for the kids!
Who: Adults, kids & babies too!
Where: Aura Restaurant, Seaport Hotel, One Seaport Lane, Boston
When: Friday, September 24, 2010 - Reservations begin at 5:30p
The cost for adults is $30 plus tax & service; for kids: Baby Selections $3, children’s Bento Box selections are $14 and sides are $3 plus tax & service.
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