Meet The family

Jyoti

I grew up 30 minutes north of Boston in Andover, I am a strong willed middle child. I am a mom to 18 month old, Devin, and our fur baby', Kush, who is 10. I attended the Wine Studies Certificate Program at BU. But I knew nothing about wine when I met Aaron and here I am, helping all of your wine dreams come true! I love having the opportunity to try so many different kinds of wines for the store. For me, tasting wine is the most effective way to learn.  I love curating our natural wine inventory. It is always changing and evolving!

Favorite Wine

Cava, preferably in my Aperol Spritz. 😂

Favorite Pairing

Champagne and friends. No seriously. Whenever we get together with friends whether it is just a dinner or a birthday celebration, we always start with bubbles!

Favorite Beer / Cider

I love a great wheat beer. To me Bell’s Oberon is the perfect summer beer. I also love Artifact Feels Like Home, I think it is the perfectly balanced, dry cider.

Favorite Cocktail

I can't pick one- so my favorite two would be an Aperol Spritz or a Terroir Gin & Tonic.

Favorite Hobbies

Traveling (near or far), going out to dinner and visiting all our friends at their restaurants (or getting takeout right now to support them!). Going on walks with our son and our dog. I love to cook for family and friends. Sitting around our dining table enjoying a nice meal with a bottle of wine.

Fun Fact

We opened our Fenway store when I was 34 weeks pregnant (!)

Aaron

The Unexpected Wine Guy – it’s a funny phrase that took hold.  I never expected to be a “wine guy” – quite the opposite, I probably spent the majority of my twenties making fun of people who drank wine.  When I got into the business in late 2010, I knew in order to be successful I had to understand wine.  I’ll always remember my first wine experience. I purchased a dry-aged NY strip and a $10 bottle of Evodia Garnacha, I cooked the steak, drank the wine, and my perspective was changed forever.  Wine wasn’t just some fancy thing that people like to pontificate about. It makes food better!  From that moment, I was in and fully invested in learning as much as I could about the world of wine.

Favorite Wine

I’ll offer a description so I’m not pegged to one thing ☺ .  For reds I’m looking for wines on the savory side with some essence of fruit.  Medium texture with slight tannins and a finish that has refreshing acidity.  For white wines I like fruit that’s held together with more intense structure/texture, I want to feel the wine in my mouth, almost chew it a bit – but on the finish it has to have a little salty minerality and acidity, enough so that another sip is all that will quench the thirst left behind.

Favorite Pairing

Spicy foods, specifically Indian foods.  I think this one gets the wrong treatment too often.  The standard pairing is something off-dry like a Riesling or Gewürztraminer.  Trying to fight heat with sweet doesn’t work for me.  If your mouth is burning hot many times people say milk helps – let’s take a look at that, is it the sweetness of the milk or the texture it adds to your mouth that softens up the heat?  For me, it’s the latter, so I go for a wine with balanced fruit and a nice silky texture to cool down the heat.  Give me a delicious Syrah with Indian food and I’m a happy guy!

Favorite Beer / Cider

I go seasonal with these options. Love a good Basque cider on a warm day or perhaps a Helles lager.  In the colder months a nice robust porter or stout will do the trick.

Favorite Cocktail

Any time I know it’s going to be a fun-filled evening with good friends, good wine and good food. I like to start with a Negroni.  The bitterness of the Campari opens up the palate, and the sweet vermouth settles the stomach before the food comes out.  In my opinion there’s not a more perfect cocktail.

Favorite Hobby

Love to build Ikea furniture, there’s something about the satisfaction in making something that gets me every time.

Colin

I arrived in Boston in my late teens after growing up in the Midwest - which I later found out means the entire middle of the country to East Coast natives. I always hear, “They're so friendly out there.” I'm much obliged to fit that stereotype. I can't function without listening to, writing, playing, performing, and recording music. It takes up the majority of the room in my brain most people may devote to other pursuits like eating or sleeping, but I'm simply obsessed. I tend to sieve through most aspects of life with a fine-toothed comb the same way I do searching for my next musical fascination. It so happens this translates very well to my passion for a fine beverage.

Favorite Wine

My favorite wines are light to medium-bodied reds -  particularly Cabernet Franc when it leans into its savory, vegetal characteristics, and island reds like the herbaceous wines from Corsica or the complex volcanic wines of Etna. A white that smells of petrol will also put a big smile on my face.

Favorite Pairing

Pairing a big northern Rhone Syrah with roasted pork has potential for a last meal, but on a lighter note - literally - chilled Ciliegiolo and pizza will always make my evening.

Favorite Beer / Cider

Beer is my first love, and I've travelled with it down a long and winding road. It feels like a lifetime ago when I would search out big Belgian Quads and bitter roasty Black IPAs - these days I'm always looking forward to the next perfectly balanced and crispy pilsner. I will also remove my hat when I cross paths with a well-done Kolsch or Extra Special Bitter - elusive even after the big bang of the modern craft beer explosion. My favorite ciders come from Spain - serve with jamon and olives, please.

Favorite Cocktail

While I'm not much of a mix-it-myself guy, I love a cocktail-centric night out. Gin-based drinks are generally first to catch my eye, with the Pegu Club topping my list of classics. I will never say no to a tiki drink, however, especially after I've already had my first.

Favorite Hobby

After all these drinks, I like to come home to a nice film. Art film has become a growing passion of mine in the past decade since I saw my first Jim Jarmusch film, Mystery Train. As with music, wine, and food, we can learn so much about the world and one another through film and that continually brings me back for more. Despite what you may have heard, having a Criterion Channel subscription IS a personality trait.

Chelsie

I’m happiest when I’m with my friends sitting at a table or perched at a bar talking about everything and nothing, cracking each other up, completely content to be in the moment. In college, I was preparing to become a teacher. But a piece of advice from my dad always echoed in my mind. Find out what you're interested in, then figure out how to turn those interests into your job. So, instead of getting my credentials after college I dropped everything and went to culinary school. A permanent interest of mine has always been language. Discussions about flavor change depending on whether you’re seated at a table, taking the order of a guest, recommending a wine, or working the grill station. Often, there is a lot lost in translation between each group. Having been a member of each, I’m interested in bridging those gaps. I’m hoping my culinary education, in combination with the degree in Linguistics my parents are still waiting to see a return on, will inform my work. Maybe I’ll write a book, maybe I’ll still be here in 40 years chasing customers around the store with bottles of Barolo. I guess we’ll see.

Favorite Wine

Oy, I hate this question. If you’ve seen my “Barolo or Nowhere” sweatshirt you know where I stand. But I’m really an acid freak. Anything that assaults my palate and wakes me up. Right now, I’m loving the 2016 I Custodi Etna Bianco. France will always have my heart, but I think my palate belongs to Italy.

Favorite Pairing

Wine and the beach. If I’m on the sand in a swimsuit, drinking something cold, I don’t need anything else. Maybe some sunscreen.

But, seriously. While I love acid and tannins, I am the biggest (perhaps only?) advocate of dessert wine in this family. I love Port, I love a Passito. We’ve had the Clos Lapeyre Juraçon Moelleux here and there for the past year and it’s fantastic. I would love to serve up some peach cobbler with it and change more hearts and minds. I’ve successfully converted my mom, so I know I have a shot at the rest of you.

Favorite Beer / Cider

Predictably, sour beers. The Hermit Thrush Party Guy has always been a favorite.

Favorite Cocktail

Champagne. But if forced, a really nice Citadelle Gin & Tonic or Negroni.

Favorite Hobby

Jyoti says my hobby is running. I do not enjoy running. I do it so I can drink wine and enjoy Stoked Cheeseburger pizzas. I do like creating playlists. I’ve successfully sound-tracked a number of social gatherings. But I like to think I turned my favorite hobby into my job.

Fun Fact

Probably everything, this is the most I’ve ever talked about myself. Food and wine have been my life for the past eight years. I met Aaron and Jyoti when I was working on my Master’s in Gastronomy at BU. I used to show up early for the Wednesday tastings in Brookline so I would chat with Aaron (A very easy habit to form. He listed “chatting” as his hobby, right?). He knew what I was studying and asked if I wanted to help out with the monthly subscription they had just taken over. I started working on Upper Glass a couple of days a week and in less than a year I was working with them full-time. The transition from customer to employee has been a dream.