The Wine & Cheese Cask
Categories: Cheese Shops, Beer, Wine & Spirits [Edit]
407 Washington StSomerville, MA 02143 (617) 623-8656
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
58 Reviews for The Wine & Cheese Cask
I can't believe I'm about to do this. But, I was very unimpressed by the Wine and Cheese Cask. I have known about this lil wine joint for a few years and finally set foot in it. And, quickly walked out. Dirty, dingy, grimey and not in a good wine/cheese cask way. Dusty too. Come on?! People actually shop here? It smelled horribly too. Call me a snob, but I don't think this place was good at all. And, I'm not picky about where I get my wine. I won't be back.
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I don't understand what all the hoopla about this place is about. Yes, they have a decent selection of wine but I can get that anywhere. I mean, I am in drunken Boston, aren't I? What I venture in here for is the second half of the name. Cheese!
Now if you're going to incorporate cheese into your store's name, you should really have an outstanding selection of cheeses. While this place does have some cheese, including high end type stuff, it doesn't have even close to the amount and variety I'd expect from a store with "cheese" in it's name. Maybe my expectations are really high, having grown up with stores that don't have cheese in their name, yet have a far superior collection to this place. What I also dislike is that a lot of the cheese is behind the counter. I like to look at my cheese (wow, this is starting to sound dirty in a gross way) and see what it is before I buy it. And I want to do that without having to ask store staff to get me a few hunks of cheese, and be all bothersome.
While I've gotten a couple of really tasty cheeses from them, I know I can find similar stuff elsewhere. And probably a better selection too.
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It's a shame that this is the closest liquor store to my house: with a little bit of kindness, they could have ensured a steady stream of boozy cash-flow over the next six years as I drink my way to a Ph.D.
We ran down the street in the middle of a hot rainstorm for potables, I with my wallet in hand, my girlfriend with the umbrella. We selected three large bottles of Belgian ale (each at about seven dollars) and made our way to the clerk, a surly-looking squeak who was probably only old enough to consume the pungent selection of cheeses he was facing.
"I.D.?" English is his first language, and this is the warm greeting I get. I produce the aforementioned card, and he points, finger extended, at my girlfriend. "I need hers."
The young (though not particularly young-looking) woman in question points to the pajamas she's thrown on in haste at the house. "I left my purse back home."
At this point in time, the kind young man working the counter puts the middle and index finger of each hand in the air up and wiggles them into little surly quotations marks. "Oh," he drips, "you left your purse at home, did you?"
Rather shocked, we walked out without a further move, and do not return for the next half-decade. I understand quite well that it may be store policy -- nay, even Massachusetts state law -- to card each member of a party.
But the asshole who manned the counter and decided to inform us of his suspicion by mocking his customers has ensured that I and my friends steer clear of this joint and its average selection of averagely priced drinks and comestibles. I'll pour one out when they turn over management to some kinder individuals.
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Good for Non-Drinkers
Great selections
Of beer and wine from all
Over the world
Drink up!
Fromage samples,
Over kill
Ruinous for lactose intolerants.
No. 91 bus will drop you off
On corners of Beacon and Washington,
Need to walk? Harvard Sq. is 10 minutes on foot.
Duck pate? Fresh baguettes?
Real Italian Salami and other niblets?
Inquire within.
Need assistance?
Knowledgeable staff; sommeliers on hand.
Exhale happily,
Requirements for
Smorgsborg satisfied.
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It may look like a sleepy little standalone building, but this the inside is more like a cave of goodies. Plenty of great reds, whites, roses, champagnes, sparkling wines, proseccos, tasty little grocery treats and wheels of cheese.
The staff aren't the type to jump all over you bursting with warm fake friendliness, but that's fine. They're polite and there to help if I need them and that's good enough for me. If you wanted to peruse on your own, you'd be all set without niggling pushy-ness. But as we wanted help, we were pleased to discover that a wise older gentleman in their team who seemed to be a veritable wine connoisseur was happy and willing to help us out, and was filled with great recommendations. He really knew his way around, and suggested a great range of things - and could give a good suggestion for different price levels without even a blink of snobbery or attitude. Very much appreciated.
They sell fresh baguettes, little jars of cornichons and things like the delicious Spanish sweet olive oil tortas here, in addition to cured meats like salamis, viande des grisons, and the like. I should have perused it more to see what other delights their shelves beheld, but next time, next time. They had some great cheeses available, and mademoiselle fromage cut us some generously-sized samples to taste some good pairings of. A deliciously creamy Brie which I adored, a Gruyere-esque strong harder cheese which was excellent, a sheep's milk cheese which was surprisingly lighter than I expected but also delicious... I wanted to walk away with a giant basketful and gorge myself until I'd be so full of (and presumably, covered with) delicious and yes, odorous (but so tasty) wonderful cheeses that I'd hardly have a breath left to say 'Pepe le Pew.'
The only downside is that it can be a little out of the way, if you don't live around the area and therefore isn't somewhere I can foresee myself regularly visiting just due to location and its relation to my humble abode. Still, it's a fantastic little spot and I'd absolutely love to come back here and indulge sometime soon.
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Used to stop in now and again on my way home from work, but after a while I decided that I'd rather avoid the incredibly un-friendly staff and go out of my way to go somewhere else. Not looking to make friends but when a customer smiles and says hello it's expected that the people they're giving money to give back at least that, and maybe even a sincere-sounding 'have a good night'/'enjoy'/'thanks for coming in.'
We used to call this 'record store attitude' back in the day.
I walked in the other day and told them I was looking for wine with which to make sangria. the gentleman I was talking to said, "Well, I could show you the wine they use for their sangria across the street at Dali"
!!!
(It's Vina Borgia 2006, if anyone is curious.)
I love the cask!
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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06/15/2007
I am fortunate to live right around the corner from this little gem. I rarely buy wine there, but… Read more »
I can't complain. I'm not giving them all the stars because they could have a better selection, although they have my standard selections... New Castle, Red Stripe, La Fin Du Monde.. . they didn't have blue moon summer brew when i really wanted it and that was a little sad.
the staff is friendly and i have never gotten or even inquired about cheese but they seem to know what they are doing.
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My neighborhood cheese shop doesn't mess around.
For a quick and easy hunk of your favorite spanish cow's milk, basil-infused brie, or ancient gouda, you can grab something precut in their cold case, or order your cheese by the pound.
Solid craft beer selection followed by a bunch of more run of the mill beers in back. Champagne and wine too. And crackers, haribo candies, and those tasty cornichons.
By far the best liquor store in the area. Huge and fascinating variety, knowledgeable staff. I have yet to try their selection of cheeses, but I can say they look excellent, and the store also stocks other delicious foodstuffs.
ok so this is my neighborhood beer supply store. the place is a little over priced and i don't mind usually that because i like to support small neighborhood businesses. i'm sure that the staff is knowledgeable BUT they are not very friendly at all. that's a big deal to me. if I'm giving you money..be nice.
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Based on the one sandwich I've had there, it's awesome.
I'll revise this short review once I get some wine and/or cheese.
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Huge fan of this place. Used to hit it up whenever I would meet my hubby at his office in Harvard Square (umm 4 days of the week?) because we'd drive right by on our way home.
If you aren't aware, I NEED cheese every day. And, I'm a wino. So this place was either heaven or dangerous to me, whichever way you want to look at it.
Fantastic wine selection, and staff was always willing and able to help out if I needed suggestions. Best part is the discount when buying a ton of bottles at a time like my wino ass does.
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Great selection, friendly and knowledgeable staff. Fabulous selection of cheese, and snacks as well. Would travel across town for this place, but I live around the corner. Lucky for me.
Prices are way up there. Some of the wines are X2 the price when compared to say Kappy's or other places.
Staff is nice and somewhat knowledgable.
Atmosphere, lets just say I came home and clothes went straight into laundry. Place STINKS!!! The wine section smells like musty old cellar that has not seen a broom or a mop for centuries.
Place needs to be fumigated!!!
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The wine and cheese cask is an intimate little treasure trove that sells all sorts of yummy cheese, amazing wines and clear flour baguettes.
The store had so many interesting wines that it was hard to choose what to get. Unlike many uppity wine place where prices equate quality, wine and cheese cask has a laid back "oh you want a $10 european red? sure, this $7.99 bottle is great " feel where they work with you to help you with what you need.
I talked to the proprietor for a long time and she was super patient with all my questions and didn't get annoyed when I was deliberately being difficult:
Me: "Well i'm thinking something less than $10"
Her: "Sure, how about a chianti?"
Me: "No I find cheap chiantis harsh and undrinkable"
Her (without batting an eyelid): "Oh okie, well a dolcetto is not so harsh and we have a great bottle for less than $10"
Yes I was being obnoxious but she knew her wines well and really made an effort to know what I wanted instead of pushing expensive bottles on me.
My new favourite wine store.
*bliss*
I don't know about the cheese, but this place is packed almost literally from floor to ceiling with wine. Huuuge selection. Awesome. They sort of carry wines that span the whole gamut of prices. I saw a few gallon-sized jugs, which is a little disconcerting, but hey, in Italy, you bring your own jugs to be filled straight from the barrel. Who am I to prejudge the quality of jugged wine?
Oh, but it's also pretty darn small, so I wouldn't say that it's wheelchair- or klutz-accessible.
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I should keep my lactose intolerant ass away from this establishment, but it is like 47 steps from my apartment and my boyfriend really loves cheese so I find myself in here uncomfortably often. The wine selection is decent, but the store seems to very much showcase it's unique gourmet cheese offerings. What kills me about this place is the cheese samples on the little crackers. They always cut up something delectable looking that smells oh-so-disgusting, but who can resist trying cranberry cheddar? Or Spanish farm cheese? Or basil goat cheese?
If you live in this neighborhood, or want to pick up something swanky for a get-together in the area, you should definitely check this place out.
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I don't claim to be a classy chick or anything, but I bet if I were, I would come here, because it seems like if I were the kind of chick who knew class when I saw it, I'd say Oh hey that Wine & Cheese Cask is a pretty classy joint.
The staff are friendly and they know their stuff, so if you want to pick up something for a special occasion and don't want to embarrass yourself, give 'em a go.
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12/28/07: We grabbed three bottles of red wine, two cheeses (comte and heublumenkase) and two dry salamis (molinari) - the place has been significantly renovated since our days of visiting it. The atmosphere is now much more wide open and, to some degree, it's lost some of the charm and feel of a cramped independent store. Nonetheless, the selection of cheeses is still as good as ever and wine selection seems to be much larger. On site parking lot is very helpful for anyone running in/out-
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Good wine selection. I came in looking for some kosher wine, and they had a whole row of bottles. I was impressed how much wine they managed to fit into that small building.
Ugh, I am so sick of this place but am a slave to its proximity. I've gritted my teeth through stupidly high prices (higher than Whole Foods, seriously) and super snotty staff. We were regular customers and had the same woman ring us up about 50 million times in a row but she had no qualms about barking at my boyfriend when there was a bit of confusion about splitting up the stuff we were holding. I was going to keep my mouth shut, but when I rolled in today and was charged $2.25 for a nip (yes, airplane sized booze for 2.25) I snapped. It's a freaking nip! Yuck. Thank god there are better places just around the corner.
Two stars because they carry Rye and have a decent scotch (but not bourbon or vodka) selection.
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The boyfriend and I love this place. He works at Whole Foods, but he still comes here sometimes to buy cheese because they carry stuff that he can't get at Whole Foods. Their selection is nice, and the staff are actually very helpful with recommendations.
Also a very good wine selection. We found a good selection in all price points, so no matter what type of wine you're going for, you should be happy.
Decent mid-to-high end chocolates, including some stuff I hadn't seen before.
If you're looking for a wine and cheese night, this is your place. I will continue to come here regularly for my decadent evenings at home.
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I shop here whenever I'm in Boston since it's around the corner from my brother-in-law's place. It's been the stop for me and the wife as a last second gift venue before invading his home.
I'm a big fan of the wine selection here since I can find a lot of bottles that aren't available to me in Atlanta. Georgia also has some wonderfully archaic rules about not being able to order wine over the internet, so if I want some of my favorites from the Pacific Northwest I end up buying them when visiting Boston and send them home.
I wasn't thrilled with the champagne selection on my last visit, it was the first time I've noticed it. There isn't much of a middle ground available between the $7 a bottle junk and the $45 stuff. Basically there was one label to choose from in the middle, and it wasn't something I'd ever heard of.
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I'll certainly be stopping in this place more often!
I was stunned at the assortment of amazing cheeses, as well as the wonderful selection of wine! They've even got my NY Finger Lakes wines that I miss so much! (Try Dr. Konstantin Frank!)
Lovely samples on the counter as well--and great service!
It's like a little used book store--- you can go in and poke around to your heart's content...read about the wine, look at all the delightful foods, and take some delicious things home to sample :)
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hankering for a salami stick (always. :P )
oh yeah, i wanted some cheese and wine.
where to go? where to go?
taptaptaptap (me typing search into yelp). wine & cheese cask. cerca de mi casa. excelente.
huge selection of wines. little asian wine girl asked if i needed help while i perused. salami girl - not as helpful, but ahh who cares. i found what i needed. i'm not one to complain when people aren't stumbling over themselves to help me out. i'm a big girl. i take care of me.
and me went home w/a salami stick.
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Prices are high, probably 25% more than they should be. After moving from the wine country, I know how much those wineries charged --- because I was in their wine clubs, drank a lot, and practically lived in Napa, Sonoma, Livermore, and Calaveras county for the past 5 years.
Selection is good, but typical "tourist" California wines. The Spanish and French wines have a decent selection.
Seemed really crowded, and some of the patrons there seemed pretty dumb and willing to part with too much money too easily: "I'm serving beef, but I want a white wine to go with it". The staff seemed genuinely interested in steering customers in the right direction, and maybe I looked like a sommelier or something, but no one asked me if I needed any help.
The cashier was awesome and I liked his tattoos. Plural. He had on a cool skull bracelet.
The cheese selection did look very appealing, but I was stuffed and will go back specifically for that. My husband said, "Mmm, it smells like the hotel we stayed at on Rue Cler in Paris, right above the cheese shop." That alone will cause me to revisit this place.
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I'm with the person below who mentioned the poor quality of service.
The women behind the cheese counter could not be less helpful or unfriendly if they tried.
I live nearby and stop here frequently for, you guessed it, wine and cheese. What can I say? I like to drink wine and eat cheese.
The people working in the wine area are awesome --- knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, attentive. Its a bizarro world on the other side of the shop. Its now become a game to see if any of the women will smile, say "Hello" or "Thanks" or express any other kind of emotion that includes gratitude for your business. And its not that they are channelling 'Clerks' with some superiority complex by knowing more about Cheese. They just could care less than you entered their little world for 15-20 minutes.
Its a shame when the staff can't support the food and wine appropriately. If you are so unhappy working in this environment, you should quit and do something that makes you happy.
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I've walked past this place a couple times before, but stopped in last night to grab a bottle of wine. I was definitely impressed by their selection of wine. They not only had an Australian Shiraz, but they had about 20, including the specific vintage I was looking for (though I imagine that may have been a bit of a fluke). There's a closer wine shop to me, but I'll definitely be going here again when I need something special.
Can't wait to give their cheese selection a try too.
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What a great place. They have so many eatables and drinkables that tickle my fancy: Lindemans Lambic beers, Pimms, Ritter Sport, hunks of comte, fresh crusty bread, tasty party crackers. Booze, chocolate, cheese, and bread, all in one convenient, neighborhoody shop. If the cashier looks a bit sullen on occasion, I don't take it personally.
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Really awesome in theory. I've had a fair bit of luck in the wine cellar getting good recs for bottles. Their selection is a bit overpriced, and geared towards the $12+ range rather than the $8-12 range that I usually kick it in. Their beer selection is also pretty good for its size, but still a bit overpriced. But it's quality and convenience to my home kind of balance out.
Great selection of wines, good cheese, good beer and bread.
The first impression I got after walking around the store was that I really liked the setup. Save the front cashier's area, It felt like you were walking around somebody's well-stocked cellar. There was a lot of very old, dark wood shelving a wide variety of pleasant drinks and specialty cheeses.
The selection of specialty beer and distilled liquors here is adequate, what you should come for is the cheese and the wine -- specifically the wine, because of the staff.
Just ask one of the people in the wine cellar
(1) What you'll be eating/pairing with the wine
(2) What your price range is
optionally:
(3) red or white
(4) any other characteristic (tannins, dry/wet, sweet, spicy, earthy, etc.)
Tell them this, and they will almost instantly give you the bottle you were looking for.
Good selection of wine (for example, I found a decently priced Vin Santo after having no luck looking in many of the larger wine shops), beer, cheese and a few other snack items. As with any specialty store, prices will be a bit higher than the markets but the quality is generally a step up as well.
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As soon as I walked in the first thing I thought was: This place smells like a fart. I wasn't there to buy cheese, but looking around it didn't appear that their selection was all that good. Who knows though as I am not a cheese expert at all. Despite the smell, it still felt like a second rate wine store. Meaning it felt like a place people might go to grab some wine to go home with and drink their sorrows away. Just as I am not a cheese expert, I am not a wine expert either. They seemed to have things organized by wine type (Chardonnay, Merlot etc...) and country. There were also several older gentlemen running around with notebooks in their hands, looking at the wine and writing things down. I have no idea what that was about.
Their selection did seems to be pretty vast which was impressive. Since we have no idea what we are doing, we grabbed the cheapest one that had the coolest name. It was so cool I can't even remember what it was. Yay! They did seem to have a lot of cheap to mid range choices which made me happy. I don't know. This place seemed pretty standard for a wine store. I have been one in Brookline that seemed much more organized and high class than this one. Even though I saw staff milling around, none of them ask us if we needed help. And, believe me, we looked like we needed some help.
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Three stars for an amazing wine selection, but expect to pay $$$. They seem to cater to the Harvard crowd as indicated by their prices, which is too bad. I prefer Marty's or Blanchard's in Allston for great selection and great prices you will not be disappointed.
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Decent selection priced for Somerville, not Newton. The helpful staff will work with their distributors to custom order for you.
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This is where you buy cheese in my neighborhood. You can also buy wine, beer, liquor, specialty foodstuffs and bread.
It's good for stopping in on your walk home if you live in Union like I used to.
They used to carry a Swedish Cheese. That was fun.
If I was considering their sandwiches I would knock them down to two stars just for the stupid time limits.
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Do you know your wines? your speciality cheeses? No worries...the staff here do. They'll take really good care of you AND they know their artisan beers too. Best part-and I'm a bit of a lush so I know this--they have the best wine prices in town (if you don't count Trader Joe's, of course). Try the port cheese marbled with Guiness...it's my new favorite.
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This speciality market is directly across from Dali, and they even have a small parking lot. As the name would imply they have an impressive selection of cheese, wine, beer, and even cured meats like Jamon Serrano. Pick up some fresh bread and have rustic snack. (Closest T stop is Harvard Square, but you may want a cab from there.)
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