Featured Cheese: Grafton Maple Smoked Cheddar

Grafton Village Cheese Co. Maple Smoked Cheddar
A New England classic. This young cheddar is cold-smoked over maple and hardwood for up to four hours, imparting the signature aroma and satisfying flavor of this classic cheese. Grafton’s Maple Smoked Cheddar has a mild, buttery body with heady aromas of campfire and smoked ham. A sweet finish recalls memories of toasted marshmallows. This is a versatile cheese that can occupy nearly any culinary slot. Pair with dried apricots, pickled ramps, and cured meats for a cheese board. Maple Smoked Cheddar is a natural pairing with mustard and can add depth to a ham sandwich; melts superbly in any heated preparation.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:

Wine: Oregon Pinot Noir, young California Merlot Beer: Vermont brown ale, porter or other full-flavored beer
Serve with dried apricots, pickled ramps, cured meats, or in sandwiches, melted dishes.

Featured Cheese: Sbrinz Alpage AOP Slow Food

Sbrinz Alpage AOP Slow Food
a bouquet from the alp
Handcrafted on the alp, 36 months aged with a finishing affinage in the mountain. This Sbrinz tastes bloomy and aromatic notes of fresh chamomile blossoms, toffee and clarified butter with large cheese crystals.
Sbrinz has been produced in Switzerland for centuries. In the 13th century, mules were used to transport the sturdy, hard Sbrinz on the now historic but still existing transport route Lucerne Switzerland to Domodossola, Italy. We delivered cheese and imported good Italian wine on the way back when.
Alpage means that a cheese is made on the alp and only during the summer months. Depending on the altitude of the alp and the annual weather conditions the Alpage production lasts between 10 and 16 weeks.

produced on the alp and aged for at least 30 months

Slow Food was created to promote this exclusive cheese production, which can only take place in summer. The cows enjoy the lush grass on the alp – you can literally smell it.
In addition, Sbrinz Alpage AOP Slow Food must be aged for at least 30 months – only then the extra-hard cheese develops its full and complex flavor.

3 to 6 months finishing affinage in the mountain

After the minimum affinage period of 30 months, the Sbrinz Alpage AOP is brought to our cheese cellar in Reichenbach. Deep inside the mountain is aged for another 3 – 6 months. The climate deep inside the mountain is humid. This makes the rind softer and the cheese flavor can develop even more. The rind, which is otherwise very dry and thick, becomes softer, can be broken more easily and the customer has less rind to cut through.

Featured Cheese: Cowgirl Creamery Organic MT Tam Triple Creme

Organic MT Tam Triple Creme
Cowgirl Creamery
An Organic American Original, Cowgirl’s most popular and best-selling cheese has all the lusciousness you expect from a triple cream, with a unique core that upholds its texture. Think of it as Brie’s quirky Californian cousin.
STYLE: Triple Cream, Bloomy Rind, Washed Curd
MILK SOURCE: Organic, single source, forage-based, milk from Straus Family Creamery (Tresch Farms – Sonoma)
FLAVOR PROFILE: Bloomy rind ranging from pillowy to birch bark in appearance; Delightful contrast in textures: At room temperature, features a dense fudgy core enveloped in an evolving pudgy creamline.
When young, notes of creme fraiche & cultured butter. At all ages, luscious, salted butter, cream, fresh pasture, & white mushrooms.
PAIRINGS:

  • Sparkling Wine (Champagne, Prosecco, Cava)
  • California Chardonnay
  • Sparkling Dry Cider
  • Drinking Chocolate
  • Sweet Snacks (preserves, honey, etc.)

Featured Cheese: Mifroma Gruyere AOP Cavern Aged 11 Months

LE GRUYÈRE AOP CAVE- AGED, MINIMUM 11 MONTHS 

“The secret behind the distinct flavor of our le Gruyère AOP Cave-Aged cheese lies in the exceptional ripening environment: a sandstone cave carved deep into the mountainside in Ursy, a small Swiss village. It is here that the cheeses are salted and aged at length, resulting in a premium quality gourmet product.
This outstanding cheese is matured in our natural cave for a minimum period of 11 months. The result is a deliciously full-bodied cheese distinguished from its milder versions by a distinctive crystalline crunch, a hard crumbly and grainy paste and melting grains.”

Featured Cheese: Grey Barn Organic Prufrock

Grey Barn Prufrock (Martha’s Vineyard)
Awards: Good Food Award, 2020  | World Cheese Awards 2019  | American Cheese Awards 2017
Certified Organic  |  Pasteurized, washed-rind cow’s milk cheese
“A so-called “critical darling,” the pungent inner paste of Prufrock has a beautiful, thick, soft, and yielding texture. It’s a delicate washed-rind cheese whose tradition and technique hails from Normandy in northern France. But we’ve twisted that tradition and technique for a nutty flavor with hints of tropical fruit and sour cream. When ripe, the cheese has a salty and savory flavor that perfectly complements its sweeter overtones.
Over the first several years we had been developing cheese and waiting for our milk to take us to where it wanted to go. To talk about our cheese we must first talk about our milk. The farm produces the most lovely raw organic cow’s milk you have ever tasted and we believe that our herd of twenty-five grass-fed cows are the reason. Eating a grass-only diet, the herd’s milk becomes infused with the flavors of the pasture through the different seasons. We found that the mild and damp climate of Martha’s Vineyard, where the air is perpetually permeated with a salty tang, was the perfect environment for a washed-rind cheese. It was from this discovery that we began to research other washed rind cheeses and found that our Prufrock is much the same as cheeses from the coasts of Ireland and France.
The final result is a supple and stinky cheese known as Prufrock. The rustic orange rind that has developed in the cave encases a delectable soft paste that is golden in color. This hand made certified organic cheese is unique not only because it is lovingly made on Martha’s Vineyard but also because the changes in the pastures seasonally gives subtle changes in our milk. Those subtle flavor changes are transferred into our cheese.”
Serving Suggestion:
Prufrock is luscious served with a sliced warm baguette and bit of chunky apricot jam on top – even a spicy mango chutney works nicely. In the summer months when you have burgers on the grill serve it as the cheese on your cheeseburger along with a warm bun, onion relish and a bit of sweet ketchup. Prufrock is also terrific as a grilled cheese.
Pairing Suggestion: A wonderful heady Belgian Trappist Ale.
MILK: Pasteurized cow’s milk from our Grey Barn cows.
AGED: Four weeks
FLAVOR: With apricot, salty mixed nuts and carrot leading the way, Prufrock carries with it wonderful yeasty notes of fresh baked bread.
COLOR: Prufrock has a subtle and modeled orange rind with touches of pink and white and the rind is edible, in fact it adds to Prufrock’s complex flavor profile when eaten.
TEXTURE: Its interior paste is thick and gooey in texture when allowed to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Featured Cheddar: Plymouth Hunter

Plymouth Cheese Co. is a family-run cheese factory in Plymouth, Vermont crafting heritage raw milk cheddar in an inspired array of distinctive artisanal flavors.
“Hunter, our sharpest cheese, won’t waste your time. It’s the cheese that wants you to grasp the essence of what sharp cheddar means—with your soul. As the lactose content decreases during the two-year aging process, crystallization occurs, which makes its consistency more brittle to the bite. The result is a robust, mature, ivory-hued, no-nonsense sharp Vermont cheddar that would wear a plaid flannel shirt, chop your wood and build you a fire if it could.” 8 oz. block.
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Featured Farmstead Cheese: Jasper Hill Moses Sleeper

Moses Sleeper by Jasper Hill Farm
A soft, brie-style cheese
Greensboro, VT
Moses Sleeper is a Jasper Hill Creamery original, inspired by classic, French Brie. This cheese’s historic namesake, Moses Sleeper, and his compatriot, Constant Bliss, were Revolutionary War scouts killed while defending a blockhouse along the Northeast Kingdom’s legendary Bayley Hazen Military Road.
Moses is an approachable and nuanced brie-style cheese. Beneath its thin, bloomy rind lies a gooey, milky core showing a complex array of flavors at peak ripeness: cauliflower, crème fraîche, and toasted nuts. A bright, clean finish with a hint of white mushroom aroma follows the rich flavors of the paste.

Featured Cheesemaker: Nettle Meadow Artisan Cheese

WSM is pleased to offer excellent award-winning goat and cow milk cheeses from Nettle Meadow Farm in Thurman, NY.  Nettle Meadow Farm is truly committed to the artisanal nature of each of their cheeses, the use of natural and organic ingredients and the well-being of all their animals.
Nettle Meadow Chive Schroon Moon
“A creamy, onion-y, cow’s milk cheese with chives and sea salt.  Perfect on a toasted sesame bagel with lox or inside a stuffed chicken breast with caramelized tomatoes.”
Nettle Meadow Honey Lavender Fromage Blanc
“Light fresh flavors of the freshest goat’s milk cheese infused with lavender tea and mixed with local honey.”

Nettle Meadow Kunik Mini
“Kunik is their triple crème wheel made from goat’s milk and cow cream. It won a Second Place finish at the 2019 U.S. Cheese Championships and a Good Food Award in 2018.  It has a white rind and a tangy buttery flavor. Delicious on its own or with fruit and crackers. “Minis” are now available in an easy 3.5 ounce format for grab and go convenience.”
Also available in our center store cheese case:
Nettle Meadow Cherry Choc Schroon Moon 
Nettle Meadow Honey Rhubarb Goat Cheese

Featured Farmstead Cheese: Jasper Hill Winnimere

Winnimere by Jasper Hill Farm
Award-winning Washed Rind Soft Cheese
Greensboro, VT
WINNIMERE is a take on Jura Mountain classics like Vacherin Mont d’Or or Försterkäse. In keeping with tradition, this decadent cheese is made only during winter months when Jasper Hill’s Ayrshire cows are giving rich, hay-fed raw milk. Winnimere is named for the corner of Caspian Lake where the Kehlers’ grandfather had an ice fishing shack.
SENSORY NOTES – Young cheeses are wrapped in strips of spruce cambium, the tree’s flexible inner bark layer, harvested from Jasper Hill Farm’s woodlands. During aging, the cheese is washed in a cultured salt brine to help even rind development. At 60 days, this cheese is spoonably soft and tastes of bacon, sweet cream, and spruce.
PAIRING AND SERVICE – Winnimere is best enjoyed by peeling a way a bit of the top rind and diving in with spoon and some friends. If portioning for retail, an effort should be made to sell the remainder of the wheel before day’s end. Pair with a smoky, meaty red wine or porter-style beer alongside some Vermont whey-fed bacon.
Winner of American Cheese Society’s ‘Best in Show’ Award, 2013

Featured Local Cheese: Arethusa Farm Tapping Reeve

TAPPING REEVE by Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, CT

Local lawyer Tapping Reeve formed the Litchfield Law School in the late 18th century, educating scores of politicians and justices who would go on to shape a fledgling nation. What better way to honor that legacy than with a cheese? We hit the history books and developed a savory Colonial-style cheese to please the most discerning connoisseur – past or present. Our Tapping Reeve is both sharp and refined, not unlike its namesake.
AGE: 16-24 months
PAIRINGS: SEMI-DRY HARD CIDER,  IPA’S (ALSO DOUBLE AND IMPERIAL IPA’S)