The Cheese and Wine Shop

25/08/2024

Does a Cheesemonger really eat cheese? 🧐

Absolutely! We’ve escaped to our favourite home from home after a really, sh*tty, hard week personally. What better way to enjoy downtime than a bottle of favourite fizz at the min (it’s really great!) and a cheesemongers choice cheeseboard. Wonder what we like? Ask for a cheesemongers selection next time you’re in!

23/08/2024

The Leaning Tower of Cheese-a!

How many pork pies can you balance precariously on cheese tower? A whole lot!

Last night I popped over to to set up the absolutely beast of a cheesecake for Sarah & George. They had quite different tastes, so we tried to incorporate a range of flavours and strengths. Main brief was pork pies, ensuring there was enough to go round.

In the cake, bottom to top: Yoredale Wensleydale, Waterloo, Yorkshire Blue, Fourme d’Ambert, Pork Poe, Cornish Yarg, Wookey Hole Cave Aged Cheddar and a Neufchâtel. Dressed with grapes, strawberries, physalis and bridge pies, alongside a range of crackers and chutneys

22/08/2024

Let’s offer up another prefect cheeseboard shall we?

Hard - a DOP cheese, named after the place of production, Mahon is an unpasteurised hard cow’s milk cheese with a buttery, salty and sharp taste. During maturation, the cheese is hand-rubbed with olive oil and paprika giving it a soft, fruity flavour. Mahón is sold at different ages ranging from 2 months to 10 months. This is a 6 month Mahon.

Soft - Waterloo (was defeated you won the war) cheese is made from unpasteurized Guernsey cow’s milk and a vegetarian rennet in Berkshire. It is a semi-soft cheese produced using the washed curd method, this technique helps to temper the acidity, resulting in a gentle and mellow flavour. The cheese’s unique yellow colour is derived from the natural carotene found in the unpasteurized Guernsey milk, sourced exclusively from a single herd of pedigree Guernsey cows. Imagine fudgey butter.

Blue - Originating from the Auvergne region, Fourme d’Ambert stands as one of France’s oldest cheeses, tracing its roots back to nearly 1,000 years ago during the Roman occupation. The cheese received AOC status in 2002. It distinguishes itself with a texture that is more supple and dense compared to most blue cheeses. Its interior boasts a cream-coloured paste with prominent blue veins. A slightly tangy and savoury profile, enhanced by the presence of bacteria, beautifully complements the hints of butter and cream. Try this with a fruity Shiraz or a sweet Sauternes.

Goat - Chevretta Oud / Chevretta Old is a 45-week-old Dutch goat’s cheese from North -Holland. This long ripening time creates a characterful taste and beautiful protein crystals in the dairy. A goat cheese with a solid structure. Sweet notes of burnt caramel and a crunchy salt, made way for a sweet and sour finish. The black coating gives this goat cheese a distinctive look in comparison to the white paste, a hit on a cheeseboard, even for the goat cheese haters.

Wild Card - Admiral Collingwood is a semi-hard cheese made from raw cow’s milk and aged for up to 10 months. The rind is washed in Newcastle Brown Ale during production, imparting buttery and savoury flavors and a distinct pink hue.

15/08/2024

What makes a good cheeseboard?

Hard - usually the power house on the board, something hard and crunchy, texturally different to soft, gooey Brie. Try and get a salty finish, with a sour tang. When we say mature cheddar, we don’t mean 2 weeks old supermarket cheese made in a factory. We mean 16-24 month, Clothbound and hand cared for. Aged in cellars or caves, with wonderful back stories. NOT LIKE SUPERMARKET CHEDDAR.

Soft - usually a Brie or Brie “style”. Something ooey and gooey, salty, creamy and earthy. Our Brie De Meaux is an AOP cheese (appellation d’origine protégée) made by the Donge family, rumour has it their cheese making facility is outside of the AOP area, but it’s so bloody good the cheese police extended the line to include the Donge Family. NOT LIKE SUPERMARKET BRIE.

Blue - Classic Stilton or something different? We have around 15 different blue cheeses on rotation with at least 10 stocked at any time. We stock only one kind of Stilton and it’s the best of the best. Colston Bassett dairy still hand make their cheese, resulting in a creamy and rich texture. NOT LIKE SUPERMARKET STILTON.

Goat - not everyone likes goat and to you we say to baaaaaaaaa-d. Goats cheese is renowned for being over acidic and “goaty”. It’s true that when young and fresh, goats cheese can have a lactic taste, often showing flavours of lemon. The Ticklemore is aged for about 4-6 weeks and is on the milder side, with a light lemon and herbaceous taste. If this freshness isn’t for you, we have older and harder goats cheeses, that result in a sweet, nutty and caramel flavour. If you don’t like goats cheese, try one of these, it might just change your mind. NOT LIKE SUPERMARKET GOAT.

Wild Card - Something different! Usually something in it, on it, round it. Been dipped in something, washed with something or bathed with something. Cold smoked or slow smoked. Showing off our Truffle Manchego Style Sheep’s cheese. Not only is it beautiful to look at and striking on a cheeseboard but it also bangs a whole lot of flavour! Just ask & .points.kitchen NOT LIKE A SUPERMARKET WILD CARD.

The big question though, is are you bread or crackers? ⬇️

08/08/2024

Wedding Wednesday 🤵🏻👰🏼‍♀️

Yesterday I had the pleasure (and stress) of heading up to in Newcastle, to do a cheese cake for the beautiful Mr & Mrs Stapleton. They opted for around 8kg of cheese, including a base of Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire, round of Colston Bassett Stilton, whole hunk of Delice De Bourgogne, pork pie, baby Yarg, a Coeur Neufchâtel and a cute, handmade mouse topper (by my incredibly beautiful and talented wife ). Dressed with grapes, strawberries and figs and served alongside 1.5kg of Spiced Pear chutney and a selection of crackers.

I wonder if there’s any left? 🤔

02/08/2024

New Cheese 🧀

The Truffler by is a rich, decadent, truffled Cornish Brie. Earthy and robust with a wild truffle, this is the perfect cheese for your summer cheeseboard.

We recommend having this with a pale, Provence rosé to help cut through the acidity and allow the cheese to bring out the taste of strawberries and cream or a bottle of Fizz to help cut through the creaminess and bring down the acidity of the fizz. Or, just eat the whole thing, we don’t judge!

19/07/2024

Look. Who. Is. Back 👏🏻

It has been a while since we’ve had the delightful Morbier in the fridge, so allow us to reintroduce her.

Who is a lover of Morbier?


Morbier cheese, a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese originating from Franche-Comté in eastern France, traditionally it had a layer of ash in the middle to separate the morning and evening milk curds during the cheese-making process.

Nowadays, Morbier is made with a single milking, and the ash line is often replaced with vegetable dye to maintain the visual tradition. The cheese is aged for 45 days, during which it develops a creamy texture with flavours ranging from fruity and grassy to slightly citrusy. Some producers also age the cheese for an extended period of 100 days or 150 days.

13/07/2024

Could these boards brieeeee any nicer? So happy to supply our friends at the nibbles for their exhibition round at the wonderful be sure to pop in if you’re in the town and duck out of the rain.

12/07/2024

All English Discovery Boxes ⚽️🧀

To help you celebrate watching the men’s football team in their second, consecutive, Euro final, we’ve put together a box of English delights. We’re helping you ensure, something will be coming home this weekend, regardless of the outcome.

Westcombe Cheddar - Expressing the full character of Westcombe’s terroir, this Cheddar has a deep brothy flavour and mellow lactic tang. Notes of hazelnut, caramel and citrus come through on the long, smooth breakdown. It’s known locally as a ‘five mile cheddar’, as you’re still tasting it five miles down the road!

Rosary Goat - a fresh, soft goats cheese.
It has an inherent natural acidity and a creamy texture.

Dorset Red - left to mature for around three months, Dorset Red has a deep amber colour, due to the addition of annatto, a commonly used natural colouring which gives it a similar appearance to a Red Leicester. Dorset Red is then cold-smoked over oak chips, overnight, which bestows it with its distinctive, mellow, smoky flavour.

Shropshire Blue - made by Colston Bassett Dairy Shropshire Blue is recognisable due to its distinctive orange body, again with blue veins spread throughout. The natural rind is a deep orange brown shade. The cheese is slightly milder in flavour than Stilton and delicately sweet. Like Stilton, the cheese has a creamy taste and smooth texture with no bitterness or sharpness. The maturation time is slightly less – best eaten at 6-8 weeks.

Somerset Brie - this cheese is creamy with a mild, fresh flavour and a soft, edible rind. It is made with natural ingredients and mild enough to serve with fresh fruit and crusty bread. The curd is the colour of straw and matures from the outside in, making it softer, richer, and fuller in flavour.

Individual pack of crackers and mini chutney comes alongside the cheeses. We recommend adding on some British charcuterie to fully compliment the board.

£20

04/07/2024

How’s you Italian? Allow me to translate 🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Olive Verdi denocciolate farcite con crema aromatizzata al Tartu in olio

Pitted green olives stuffed with truffle cream in olive oil

An absolute must for your weekend nibbles.

19/06/2024

Oh yes, come and have 🧀 with us!

16/06/2024

Throw back to when there was a media circus at the shop!

Cheese, cakes and coffees were the orders of the morning as Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited businesses in…

12/06/2024

Discovery Boxes are back with a Euro 2024 theme! ⚽️

Available on Saturday on a first come, first serve basis, the box is made up of 5 different European cheeses, individual crackers and a small chutney. Perfect to nibble on whilst cheering on the teams. (Whoever you’re supporting)

Hard from Scotland
Soft from Italy
Blue from Germany
Goat from England
Wildcard from Netherlands

£20

Hands up if I’ll see you on Saturday? 🙌🏻

12/06/2024

Daddy Cool 😎

£35 Father’s Day hamper, includes a bottle of wine or x3 beers, crackers, chutney and a selection of 3 cheeses.

10/06/2024

Fathers Day is this Sunday and we’ve got you covered 🫡

Baby Daddy £17.50
Daddy Cool £35
Who’s the Daddy £45
Big Daddy £75

You can swap beer for wine (surcharge applicable for the Baby Daddy). We are proud to be exclusively using local beers from Dionysiac Brewing for our beer selection (because they’re the best!).

Pre-order only via email to [email protected], limited availability.

05/06/2024

A Beautiful Mess 🧀🍯🌿

Villarejo have produced and absolute stunner in this raw sheep’s milk cheese. Manchego in style, naturally lactose free, the cheese gets cured in honey and oregano for 6 months. It’s sweet, nutty, salty and savoury. The perfect pair to our Finca Manzanos wine of the month.

31/05/2024

Whatever you ‘Finca’ you know about Rioja, you could be wrong.

Our wine of the month for June (a day early to persuade you all to get down tomorrow), will be on the counter tomorrow tasting. Finca Manzanos, Tempranillo Blanco is a white wine, hailing from the Rioja region. Yep, Rioja can do white!! 🤯

Using 100% Tempranillo Blanco grape, the wine has a lemon, clear, bright colour to it, high intensity aroma, owing to citrus and tropical fruit and a fresh, pleasant palate of coconut water, peach and cream. A balanced acidity and a lingering finish, this is the wine you need for summer.

We recommend pairing this with an acidic Murcia Al Vino, a buttery Manchego, grassy and nutty Mahon, spicy Broadbeans, Rosemary Torta Biscuits, Membrillo and a selection of Spanish meats in our Spanish Tapas Platter.

Place your order, to collect this weekend!

22/05/2024

Have you ‘herd’ about our new butter?

“Luxurious, creamy butter with intense, oaky truffle oil.”

are about to make your truffling day! They are proudly sustainable, naturally delicious and always organic. Crafted in Somerset, they use 1960’s butter barrels to tumble the cream, ensuring each one is hand rolled and only churned in small batches.

We only have a limited numbers of these and recommend you run, don’t walk, to get yours. 🧈

18/05/2024

‼️ Newness alert 🚨

Feel good crackers now in store.

are a delicious sustainable luxury plate-to-mouth cheese vehicle that you must try! And what a flavour range! Ask us to recommend a paired cheese with each flavour, for example the La Peral from our earlier post with the Pear & Earl Grey flavour 🤯

💨 They use 100% renewable electricity.
🌊 They bake with Wind, Wave & Woman power.
🌱 They are proud to be Net Zero Carbon Neutral.
♻️ 85% of waste is recycled.
📦 They are shipped to us in recycled boxes.
💪 The health and well being of their diverse staff is prioritised. They support confidence building, education, mentoring & skills growth.
👀 Their packaging delivers food safe, crisp crackers and they are focused on finding an alternative effective solution to plastic packaging and all elements of their current packaging are recyclable.

All that for just £3.20. Use your 💷 to vote for the kind of world you want to live in… or, just buy them because they’re delicious! 🤤

17/05/2024

I know what I’m doing Tannat 🍷

One of our new wines is a grape that I’m absolutely raving about right now! Bizarra Extravaganza Tannat Espresso hails from the Sierra de Mahoma region of Uruguay. Made with 100% Tannat grape and using sustainable farming, the wine is made using a maceration technique similar to the extraction method employed to make espresso coffee. The purpose is to extract as much as possible from the Tannat grape skins, and little from its seeds. To achieve this it is macerated at high temperatures for only 3 days from the start of the fermentation.

Consisting of rich and dark tasting notes, the coffee comparisons are manyfold. This maceration technique really brings out the darker side of Tannat with blackberry jam, mocha and coffee. A powerful yet balanced wine.

Tannat has one of the highest levels of antioxidants out of all red grapes. Because of this, it is considered to have some of the best health benefits among red wine. The antioxidants also allow tannat to age well.

16/05/2024

La Peral 🔵🧀

A blue cheese made from pasteurised cow’s milk in a distant area of Asturias in northern Spain, being named after the local village of the same name.

The cheese is matured for 2-4 months in natural stone cellars beneath the dairy. It has a delicate natural rind with a soft paste and light blue veins. Flavours are wonderfully gentle in the initial ripening days, acquiring a full, slightly spicy flavour further into maturation. The paste is creamy and has undertones of buttermilk.

La Peral pairs well with a good Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Spanish dessert wines.

15/05/2024

Last weekend we* had the absolute pleasure of setting up this beauty of a “cheese cake” for Katie & Ben’s special day.

We met with the future Mr & Mrs and the Bride’s parents at the shop, we did an in depth tasting and chat, to figure out what cheeses would be perfect for them. Opting for Cornish Yarg, Baron Bigod as Mother of the Bride’s favourite and Yorkshire Blue as homage to the Grooms home town, Pork Pie from , Wookey Hole Cave Aged Cheddar and a Couer Neufchâtel. This tower was everything and more.

Crackers and chutneys to pair were provided.

The mice topped are handmade by the amazingly talented 🐭🐭

*use of the word we loosely, worked her magic whilst I was off sipping cocktails.

12/04/2024

A Glorious Mess 🐐🧀

Another new organic, goats cheese on the counter for the weekend. This is Capra Fieno, a pasteurised cheese from the Veneto region of Italian, the cheese gets wrapped in the hay the goats eat and matured on wood boards for 7-8 month, the ripening process dates back to the areas tradition of hiding cheeses from hungry looters and tax collectors. We’re not hiding it though, it’s front and centre in the fridge.

The cheese is firm textured with a strong aroma of flowers and grass, it has a clean taste and a lingering finish. This pairs perfectly with sweet jams, dessert wines and fruity reds.

Please don’t enjoy this too much, after the mess it’s caused, I’m not sure it’s welcome back. 🫣

11/04/2024

Santa Gadea 🐐🧀

Santa Gadea Black Label is a pasteurised Organic Goats milk cheese made from 100% Goats and animal rennet. Produced by Alphonso on a 2000 acre Santa Gadea farm with 1000 goats roaming free. Just for a little space. A large barn holds the milking parlour and the goat’s sleeping digs have a French design (they’re French goats and Alfonso didn’t want any homesickness). The goats feed on Alfonso’s own crops (GM, chemical-herbicide-and-fertilizer free) which produces rich, organic milk. All while taking care of the local wildlife by planting over 100,000 trees and only using energy from windmills and solar panels.

A combination of rich organic goat’s milk and a 15-day fermentation process, turns out this firm, creamy organic goat’s cheese with a mild but fully rounded flavour. Stored in a cedar box, the cheese will get a little more tangy and pungent as it ripens.

geese

07/04/2024

On days off we… EAT CHEESE!

We say it a lot in the shop - SHOP SMALL, SUPPORT LOCAL, BUY MORE BRITISH MADE CHEESE - then when it comes to a Sunday everywhere is closed and we don’t get the chance to do it ourselves… So imagine our excitement when we discovered had opened just behind 🧀 🍕🍷 in the most fantastic setting, open on Sundays, AND it’s 🐶 friendly (the pizzeria, not the shop). We had the Tartiflette (with St Sunday) and the No. 8 (with La Latteria Strachiatella and Berkswell) and then definitely over ordered by adding the crushed roasted potatoes covered in Devon Blue. It was superb to see our favourites topping the pizzas off! Had a little walk round the cheese museum, admired the cheese maturing room, and then had to check out the notorious vending machines! Highly recommend a trip out.

05/04/2024

Grand Noir 🔵🧀

Voted the best blue cheese in the world at the 2022 World Championship Cheese Awards, Grand Noir starts with the very best fresh milk from regional farms in Bavaria, Germany. It is carefully dipped in black wax and then aged at cool temperatures to develop a luscious and creamy texture and delightfully bold blue notes. This silky blue cheese has an elegance all its own.

Grand Noir is lactose-free due to the natural maturation process during cheese-making, naturally gluten-free and because it uses microbial rennet, it is 100% vegetarian-friendly.

Run, don’t walk for this. 🏃🏼🏃🏻‍♀️

04/04/2024

We missed so we’re starting instead. 👰🏼‍♀️🤵🏻

We had the absolute pleasure of doing this wedding cheese cake for the new Mr & Mrs Storey.

After a consultation and tasting, the happy couple decided to go for a base of Yoredale Wensleydale, a soft English, Brie-style in Wigmore, Irish Farmhouse Cashel Blue, a Pork Pie, .yarg baby Yarg and a coeur Neufchâtel for the top.

We provided chutneys and crackers to go alongside the cheese and hope everyone enjoyed it.

Thank you for choosing us!

Love & Best Wishes to the new Mr & Mrs 🥂

27/03/2024

Nothing to see here 👀

Our opening hours aren’t changing because of the bank holiday weekend, so pop and see us for an awesome Easter cheeseboard.

27/03/2024

Barrel Aged Feta is Better 🇬🇷

Feta is one of the oldest and most well-known cheese styles in the world, with origins that date back to ancient times. In fact, the production of an early feta-style cheese is described in Homer’s Odyssey!

In 2002, the European Union granted Greece Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for Feta, PDO Feta must contain at least 70% sheep’s milk, and/or up to 30% goat’s milk and come from certain areas of Greece. The designated regions are Peloponnese, Epirus, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace, and the islands of Lesvos and Cephalonia.

Most Feta is aged anywhere from 2 to 12 months in barrels, tins, or baskets. Barrel Aged Feta tends to be brined the longest, creating a sharper, more complex flavor.

Our Koliós authentic Barrel Aged Feta is matured in wooden barrels, using fresh pasteurised sheep’s milk and goat’s milk from free grazing animals, made to a traditional recipe. The natural aroma of mediterranean grasses in combination with the aroma of the wood, give this Barrel Aged Feta cheese a unique rich, award winning flavour.

We recommend a watermelon, grilled peaches and making feta salad, paired with Assyrtiko.

Yamas 🥂

21/03/2024

Ploughman’s anyone?

• Cheddar
• Stilton
• Pork Pie
• Perfect Ploughman Pickle
• Pickled Onions
• sourdough
• Salted Butter
• Grapes & Celery

Heading round to tonight with these as they are kindly hosting our Cheese & Wine Book Club meet.

Shall we have these available on the counter for lunches Friday/ Saturday?