On Friday, Feb. 1 from 3-6pm, we will be having an educational wine and cheese tasting in the center of our store.

For this wine tasting, we will be visiting the Languedoc region. The Languedoc is a wine region in France with some of the oldest planted vineyards in that country. The Greeks were believed to produce wine there in the 5th century. It is the single largest wine producing region in the world, with 700,000 acres under vine. Winemakers in the region grow more grapes then all the vineyards in the United States. With a wide variety of soils and a range of grapes growing in them, there are many exciting wines and wine blends being produced in the region. On Friday, we will be sampling four of them, all four of which happen to be our Hunger Mountain Co-op-labelled wines: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Along with these wines, we will be sampling Spring Brook Farm’s Ashbrook, a local, raw, morbier-style cheese which will pair perfectly with our Languedoc selection. Ashbrook is the latest creation in Spring Brook’s line of distinguished cheeses. It is a lightly-washed-rind cheese, inspired by the French Morbier, which features a highly distinctive line of black ash through the middle of the cheese, separating it horizontally. Ashbrook has a similar line of vegetable ash running through its middle, which has a semi-soft, supple texture, a bright milky flavor, and a highly aromatic and slightly nutty finish.

We hope to see you for this exciting wine and cheese pairing on Friday, Feb. 1 from 3-6pm.