We visited Cellar Door Winery, back in December. We were in Maine visiting our friends Dwaine and Beth and she was so excited to show us one of her local favorites. It’s fortunate we were there when we were because they were only days away from closing up for the winter season. They’d open back up sometime in April. How could we have known that would be the last time we’d be wine tasting for a long while?
I tasted my first blue cheese from Rogue Creamery, back when we lived in San Francisco, CA. There was a terrific corner cheese shop that carried it as well as having events where Rogue’s sales representatives would come in to educate and give out samples. Being new to the West Coast then, I just figured Oregon was close by and I could take a quick trip out to see their facilities. Well time passed and we moved away from CA before I ever had a chance to get out to Oregon. I loved those blue cheeses and had this draw to go see where they were made.
We spent a couple days in Fort Collins, CO with new friends, all because of a cheese class. I met Suzanne at the Cheese bootcamp, held at The Art of Cheese and after being partners in class, she invited Neil and I out to see her town. I found a tourism magazine for Fort Collins and saw an ad for The Welsh Rabbit. When she suggested we go there, I knew we were starting a long lasting friendship!
“Cheese is just preserved milk”
I was so excited when my friend Jo told me there would be a Cheese Event at the Durham East Branch library. Yay, cheese and the library! It was even free. The event was sponsored by a grocery store called the Durham Co-Op and the theme was sheep and goat cheeses. Mmm stinky barnyard cheeses, just what I prefer!
We told you about our visit to the North Carolina Cheese Shop so now we’ll talk about the NC winery. As you know, Neil and I love traveling for wine (and cheese). There’s just so much out there to learn about and taste! We found this winery on the way out to Asheville and it’s the first NC winery we’ve visited. Mary, one of the owners, greeted us in their tasting room.
We visited Asheville, NC, a few weeks back with our friend Doris. While we were coming up with ideas for the trip, I searched for local cheese shops. We were staying in Fletcher which is about a 20 minute drive outside of Asheville. Imagine our surprise when we found Looking Glass Creamery on that list and it was only a few minutes away from our AirBnB. We chose to go there Saturday in the early afternoon. The timing couldn’t have better as the sky opened up into thunderstorms just as we walked into the shop.