Holiday Store Hours:
OPEN 10 AM – 6 PM every day this week, including Sat. 12/31/22, New Years’ Eve.
Jan. 1, 2023: CLOSED
Beginning Mon. Jan. 2, 2023, open regular hours.
The shop’s regular hours are 10 AM – 6 PM, Mon. – Sat., and 11 AM – 5 PM on Sundays.
HAVE A CHEESY NEW YEAR– Some spectacular holiday cheeses have just arrived. Add them to your holiday gathering or brunch menu and make it extra amazing:
Chabichou du Poitou – One of the great cheeses of the world with a delicate complexity of flavors. This young goat cheese sports a wrinkled rind and is sweet-cream fresh. Tender, flavorful and scrumptious, it is excellent on its own with a cracker and some Nyons olives, which are also in stock.
Beaufort d’Été, is a raw-milk cow cheese from Savoie. The cow’s summer diet of fresh grass and flowers lends extra flavor components to the cheese. Its texture is smooth and creamy, and its flavor is nutty and floral-reminiscent of a traditional Gruyere, but subtler and with deeper nuance and complexity. Enjoy with rustic bread or melt it into fondue. It would also pair wonderfully with tawny port.
Marbre des Alpes Morbier-style raw cow milk cheese. Traditionally Morbier was made with a layer of ash running through its center to separate the morning milk and the evening milk. Today, it is made from just one milking, with a gorgeous layer of grape must running through its center. Marbre des Alpes is a mountain cheese from the Savoie region. Semi-hard, it is supple, very buttery, and creamy with hints of caramel.
Buche de Chevre Cendre is a beautiful log of ash-coated, pasteurized goat cheese. Made in France’s Loire Valley, this semi-soft Fromage is excellent served over tossed salad greens or eaten on toasted crostini.
We stock Foie Gras and Sauternes – This traditional pairing of rich duck liver with the high-acid and sweet Sauternes wine, is a classic French pairing. The communes of Sauternes in Bordeaux produce this wine from botrytized Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes (infected with “noble rot”, a great thing giving the wine its distinctive character) with sweetness balanced by high acidity. The flavors of stone fruit, citrus, floral notes, honey, and baking spice are a perfect accompaniment to rich foods such as Foie Gras, fruit desserts or cheeses such as Cabrales Blue cheese or Beaufort d’Été. We carry four Sauternes in 375 ml bottles, all under $30.00.
Also in stock is Rieussec Sauternes 2016 ($70.00; 375 ml) “Quite fresh, with acacia and honeysuckle notes out front, followed by a stream of mirabelle plum, yellow apple, pineapple, and white peach flavors. Offers an unctuous feel on the finish while staying on the brighter side. Among the top efforts in the vintage.” 93 points Wine Spectator
BUBBLES FOR NEW YEARS – We have plenty of choices in addition to the stellar bottles described below.
Pierre Péters Cuvee de Reserve Brut Grand Cru NV 750 ml ($68.00) “…the latest rendition of Péters’ NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvée de Réserve offers up a lovely bouquet of citrus oil, pear, pastry cream, dried white flowers, hazelnuts and crushed chalk. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, fine-boned and elegant, with ripe but racy acids, a delicate pinpoint mousse and a long, saline finish. As usual, this is an immensely refined Champagne that exemplifies the timeless style of this Mesnil-based Chardonnay specialist.” 91 points Wine Advocate 100% Chardonnay; a blend of the 2017 vintage base with 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1995 through 2016, except 1999 and 2003 (22 vintages!) from four Grand Cru villages: Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant, Avize, and Oger. 75% undergoes malolactic fermentation. Aged in stainless steel, oak cask, and concrete on fine lees for 24+ months.
Champagne Moussé Fils L’Or d’Eugene NV 750 ml ($57.00) “Wafting from the glass with a deep and complex bouquet of golden orchard fruit, honeycomb, mirabelle plum, candied peel and fresh pastry, it’s medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, with a rich and sapid core of fruit, lively acids, and a delicate pinpoint mousse.” 94 points Wine Advocate 80% Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir, this is a perpetual blend of 50% 2003-2017 reserve wine and 50% from the 2018 vintage. The perpetual blend gives depth and complexity; the 2018 vintage adds freshness from the new harvest. Aged for 18+ months on lees in stainless steel.
Raventós I Blanc Blanc de Blancs 2018, Conca del Riu Anoia ($21.99) Grapes for this wine are from a 40-year-old vineyard, grown on an ancient seabed studded with fossils, giving the soils and wines a distinctive quality. Aromas of rich brioche on the nose are exceptionally inviting. The palate offers up white apple notes which are fresh and bright. Toasty, elegant, and mineral-laden with subtle tiny bubbles, this is a sparkling wine of refined elegance and deliciousness. Winegrowers since 1497, Catalan sparkling winemakers since 1872, Raventós I Blanc has the longest, documented viticulture tradition owned by the same family in Europe. Pepe Raventós is the 21st generation to farm the property which is now worked biodynamically; in 2012 the winery left D.O. Cava. In recognition of their singular terrunyo, they created a new designation of Conca del Riu Anoia. A blend of Macabeo, Xarello, Parellada, and 5% Malvasia de Sitges, aged on the lees for 18 months. It’s a superb value at $21.99.
Margaine NV Champagne Le Demi-Sec This complex champagne offers up sweet white fruit and floral notes with gorgeous balance. It is phenomenal with rich fruit tarts. “The NV Cuvée Le Demi-Sec is a very pretty, attractive Champagne. The higher dosage of 32 grams per liter brings out lovely toasted and spice character to the white orchard fruit flavors [while delivering elegance] and restraint…” 91 points Vinous Media