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Ribera del Duero and Rueda: Your Next Wine Country Destination


It is often said that wine is life, but in Ribera del Duero and Rueda, it is more. Wine represents the roots in the soil and the root of the soul. Each glass made here represents the area’s ancient past and its slow, steady march toward modern winemaking.  Castles dominate the landscape in these regions, […]

Ukrainian Cheeses Debut At World Cheese Awards


Since ancient times, Ukrainians have produced cheese for their families. Over time, the volume and skills of cheesemakers grew, and cheese became one of the most used goods in trade. The first mentions of Ukrainian cheese were made 1,000 years ago. Unfortunately, due to oppression by the Soviet authorities, Ukrainian culture, including its cheese culture, […]

For Locally Sourced Pizza, Head To A Farm


Written by Kristine Hansen Photos courtesy of Millsap Farms It’s no secret that autumn is harvest time for vegetables. But in Wisconsin and other states where farming is a way of life, it’s also when some farms host pizza nights where ingredients, including cheese, and even the flour to make the pizza dough is sourced […]

Entertaining Hobbit Style


While I currently call Chicago home, I spent formative adult years living in Vermont. I miss it. I miss the greenness. I miss the smell of the woods after the rain. I miss the impossibly fluffy snow on trees. I miss all the bucolic beauty, but most of all, I miss my brother. He’s the […]

Pairing Bitters and Cheese Beyond Happy Hour


Sam Unger likes to think of cocktail bitters as the Mary Poppins of flavor. “When we’re making our Pineapple Star Anise [bitters], I’m taking hundreds of pineapples, bringing them into this tiny bottle, then all of a sudden it expands again and it’s able to go into hundreds of drinks,” says Unger, founder of Vancouver-based […]

From Mexico to America’s Dairyland


PHOTOGRAPHED BY CODY LACROSSE With Sancho Cruz Manchego and more, Ricardo Gutierrez Cruz puts his stamp on Wisconsin’s cheese scene In elementary school, Ricardo Gutierrez Cruz’s class toured an ice cream manufacturing plant. While his peers were distracted by the prospect of trying various flavors, Gutierrez Cruz was struck by the mechanics of it all. […]

Savory Cake Towers Move In On Sweet Territory


Photo from @harperandblohm Instagram Celebrations call for cake, but that cake does not have to be sweet. Beyond the elaborate cheeseboard, savory wheels and wedges can be a party centerpiece, and increasingly, the multi-tiered wedding cake is being swapped for a tower of cheese. Instead of choosing between vanilla and chocolate or marzipan and whipped […]

Voicings: The Simms Twins Of Lady And Larder


Photo Credit: Jenna Jones It’s hard not to smile around Sarah and Boo Simms. The twin sisters and co-owners of Santa Monica cheese shop Lady and Larder are effervescent, exuding a familiarity that welcomes you like a lifelong friend. With over 70,000 Instagram followers, these two have single-handedly changed the cheese board game with dynamic, […]

Centerfold: Blu di Bufala


Photographed by Nina Gallant | Styled by Kendra Smith Water buffalo are not an uncommon sight in Southern Italy, where cheesemakers turn their rich milk into mozzarella, ricotta, and other fresh cheeses. In the northern part of the country, however, they are a rarity, and it is rarer, still, to use their milk for aged […]

French Alpine Fare Meets a Love for Maine Cheese at Alice and Lulu’s


Photography by Nicole Wolf Chef Lex Godin can pinpoint when they fell in love with Maine cheese. It was 2017, and they were working as the executive chef at 45 North, a ski resort restaurant in western Maine, which served Kennebec Cheesery’s Sugarloaf, an aged, Alpine-style goat’s milk cheese. Due to a delivery hiccup, Lex […]

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