It was great to see so many of you at the Holiday Stroll on Thursday in Montclair. Lots of new faces and folks really seemed to enjoy our own Paul Manousos' song stylings.
I hope that the Holiday Season is treating you well, and that you're all enduring the economic storm....We're doing fine here at Farmstead - and have stocked up on some fine Cheddars for the holidays, to whit:
Keen's Farmstead Cheddar: A traditional cloth-bound, raw milk cheddar brought in by Neal's Yard Dairy. Made by the Keen family at Moorhayes Farm near Wincanton, Somerset, England. The texture is a bit more moist than our other English cheddars and has complex savory, nutty, earthy flavors and a bright sharp finish.
Wookey Hole Farmstead Cheddar: Named after Wookey Hole Cave in Somerset, England, where the cloth bound truckles are aged for up to a year. This creamy, pasteurized cheese is from Ford Farm in Dorset, located on the rugged Jurassic coast where the Ford Farm cows graze on grasses rich in minerals from the sea (and makers of our popular Coastal Mature Cheddar). This English cheese is aged four months in Dorset then shipped inland to the Wookey Hole in Somerset to finish its aging process in its vast network of limestone caves. Unlike most farmhouse cheddars, Wookey Hole Cheddar is pasteurized, and uses vegetarian rennet. The Wookey Hole caves themselves are a major tourist attraction, with around 3000 visitors a day during the summer months.
High End Gifty Wines. Sine Qua Non, Astralis, Marcassin, Lillian, Cayuse, Shafer Relentless, Caymus Special Select, Metisse, Leonetti, Silver Oak, Gaja, Nit de Nin, Monte Bello, Aquillon, Rayas, Amon-RA, Termanthia, La Landonne, La Turque, Lafon, etc, etc, etc. If these names mean anything to you, and you'd like some more info, please call us.
Vacherin They're back! We found a source for this great, oozy Christmastime wonder, and they're in the shops as you read this!
Vacherin wha? Vacherin is soft, rich, seasonal cheese contained in a grayish-yellow blanched rind. Made from cow's-milk in Switzerland or France, usually in villages of the Jura region. It is packaged in a round wooden cheese-box and can be served warmed in its original packaging and eaten like a fondue. The cheese is made from the winter milk of cows who have been brought down from their pastures for the season. It is related to other mountain cheeses such as Emmentaler and Gruyere, but made in much smaller rounds and also treated differently, so that the cheese is almost liquid when fully ripe.
Vacherin comes in a special round pine box. When the cheese is pulled out, it in enclosed by a birch strip called a sangle, and a velvety red rind. To eat the cheese, it is recommended that it be allowed to breath at room temperature for several hours before carving off the inedible rind and scooping out the soft cheese inside.
Vacherin is made with both pasteurized and unpasteurized milks, depending on the region. The milk is curdled by introducing rennet and heating the mixture, and the curds are packed into tall cylindrical molds, with holes in them so that the whey can drain out. After the cheese has firmed slightly, it is cut into rounds which are encircled with the traditional sangles and moved into a cheese cave to ripen. During the ripening phases, the Vacherin Mont d'Or is turned daily, and brushed with a brine solution. After one month, the cheese is ready for sale, and is boxed.
Tractor Shed Red Napa Valley Wine We loved this bargain priced red wine blend. Good fruit balance of Sangiovese, Merlot and Zin. The wine has an Alameda and an Oakland connections, as the owners, the Tudals grew up on the Island, and now live in the Oakland Hills.
Bargain Wine Club We've launched our 7th Wine Club, the Bargain Wine Club - a monthly selection of six wines - four red and two white - regularly priced from $9-15 per bottle, hand selected for you for high QPR (quality/price ratio).
Many of the Bargain Club selections will be store favorites, over-performing, well-made wines that you may already be buying, others will be new discoveries. Joining the Bargain Wine Club delivers some pretty impressive benefits
- at least 10% off on all wines in the shop
- detailed notes on each wine
- advance notice of and a club discount on our amazing and frequent Wine Dinners (we target 8-10 per year at top local restaurants like Acquacotta, the Bay Wolf, Franklin Square, and the Wood Tavern)
- free weekly wine tastings
- our undying love and gratitude
Wine Clubs Speaking of wine clubs, we're about to release our December Wine Club allocations . As always, club members receive significant discounts on all wines in the store, advance notice and discounts for our frequent wine dinners, free pours at our weekly tastings, recipes tailored to each wine, and our unflagging gratitude and devotion. We ask for a four month comittment to any of our clubs.
This month,
- the Bargain Club features a Torrontes, a Picpoul, Bored Doe, an Aussie Pinot, a Chianti Rufina and Lorca Red
- the Chateauneuf Club offers Gigogan Vigne du Regent, a value priced Chateauneuf
- the Classic Club (two wines per month) features a choice of Vinum Elephant (a white wine blend), a Sparkling Rosé from Graham Beck, a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Loire, and a high scoring Syrah from Melville
- the High End Red Club (wait list) features a high scoring, single vineyard Syrah from Stolpman
- the Italian Club features a Chianti Rufina and an organic Vernaccia di San Gimignan
- the Pinot Noir Club (wait list) features a deep, extracted Pinot from Kanzler.
- the Spanish Club features red wines from the Canary Islands and Majorca
Weekly T
asting. This week, our Friday night tasting in Montclair (from 6-8 p.m.) features Faith Ventrello from Vintage Wine Marketing. Vintage is run by Faith and her husband Steve (who makes great Cal-Spanish wines under the Parador label). We'll be pouring some great wines from their portfolio. As always, the flights cost $3 each, waived if you buy some wines or are a member of one of our many wine clubs (see above). We're not holding any tastings in Alameda in December, as we need the space for a second register. Tastings will start up agaion in January.
By the way, did you see the great writeup on our tastings in Oakland Magazine : Farmstead Creates a Buzz in Montclair Less than a month after opening the doors to his new shop in Montclair Village on June 1, cheesemonger and wine purveyor Jeff Diamond found himself shepherding a new flock of wine fanciers and introducing them to his latest finds and favorite selections. Throughout the summer, attendance grew for the Friday-night wine tasting at Farmstead Cheeses & Wine, the Oakland hills sibling to the shop Diamond opened in the Alameda Marketplace in 2003. click here for the rest of the article.
Rosé and Riesling Sale All of our Rosés and Rieslings are on sale through January. 10% off the marked price (discount automatically taken at register). Rieslings are perfect holiday wines - their great acidity goes well with many foods, and their residual sugar makes them the perfect foil for holiday Hams and Turkeys (as well as spicy fare like Thai, Mexican, Chinese and North African cuisines). Rosés are great with the same sorts of foods, as well as an aperitif, or as my wife Carol thinks, any old time (we drink Rosé at our house most every day!)
Olives in Alameda!! Our colleagues at the Alameda Natural Grocery have brought in a beautiful array of fresh, artisan olives. Come on in and check them out - fairly priced and there's eight-ten different types to choose from.
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