Wine Tasting Tonight

So I finally stopped in to Cornucopia Wine and Cheese in Stratham (in the Domino's Plaza on top of the hill) the other day. The owner Kathy Campbell, a former teacher in Brentwood, is extremely enthusiastic about cheese. She worked her way through college by working in a cheese shop on Long Island and opening her own shop has always been a dream of hers.

Tonight from 4 to 7 p.m. there is a wine tasting at the shop. She plans to do this every Friday. (Hey hubby, I think I have to run a quick errand...)

She offers a selection of locally produced and imported cheeses in the shop which aims to stock cheeses that are not available elsewhere. For example, she points out that most of the brie sold in grocery stores is not authentic brie, which must be produced in the Brie region of France. Campbell carries Brie de Meaux, which is imported from that region. "As it ages, it becomes stronger in flavor and more robust," she said of the cheese.

The Capri Classic Blue, made in Massachusetts, is a goat cheese that is covered in a blue cheese, while a Bufalus Mozzarella is imported from Italy. "It’s exquisite," she said of the mozzarella. "It’s smooth and velvety and practically melts in your mouth."
She also carried cheeses from Maplebrook Farm in Vermont as well as creme fraiche and mascarpone cheese from Vermont Butter and Cheese.

And there are about 30 specialty wines that you won't find at the local state liquor store. Lucky for me, she had my favorite--Urban Reisling, also known as the wine that smells like a wet stone after a rain storm!