Thursday, June 14, 2007

Corkscrew Wine And Cheese



"There's a cheese shop," I alerted my husband, "pull over."

I cannot begin to track how many times; over fourteen years together I've ordered him to stop the car for the promise of cheese. This happened with greater frequency when we lived in New England, though as you might imagine the nearby state of Wisconsin provides more than a few "pull over" opportunities. I once convinced him to make a detour an hour out of our way so I could visit Colby, Wisconsin. There isn't much there to reinforce the place's status as the birthplace of a rather uninteresting cheese, however the post office will put a cutesy postmark on anything you send out from the location.

Corkscrew Wine and Cheese in Omaha, Nebraska was a pleasant discovery. Located at 10924 Prairie Brook Road in the Rockbrook Village shopping centre, it is easily accessible with ample parking (beware the spaced-out petit bourgeoisie attempting to manouvere mammoth SUV's through the lot whilst balancing a cell phone and coffee without mussing a manicure). Phone 402-305-4055. http://www.corkscrewwineandcheese.com/

The selection of cheese at Corkscrew Wine and Cheese is small though thoughtfully selected. Certainly, one may purchase cheese at the corporate elitist grocery chain, however they do not carry products of the same quality. The manchego cheese pictured above (look at that gorgeous rind) was cut from an unopened wheel in exactly the amount we wished to purchase. It was not sitting in a case wrapped in cellophane for a month drying out. In fact, this was the first opportunity I've had to enjoy manchego as it is intended. I had always understood it to be a hard cheese intended to be grated, as that was the condition in which it is most likely to be found.


I am not a wine lover and make use of it only for cooking. That said, I would note only that Corkscrew Wine and Cheese sells wine as the name implies and features a wine bar. I wouldn't want to go out on a limb and draw conclusions on a subject I know nothing about. My level of wine knowledge would enable me to observe only that there were many colourful bottles available for sale.

As I had Danny in tow (a two year old in the vicinity of breakable glass is sort of asking for it) and didn't want to be shelling out money for what fate would make the most expensive bottle of wine in the place being smashed to the floor, it was a short trip. I left my husband to make the purchase, which he later told me included a sample of the cheese prior to buying (try that at your filthy corporate elitist chain grocer). We purchased a very small amount, yet were treated as though we were buying a $200. bottle of wine. Typically, I recoil at shops in places like Rockbrook Village as they often seem (along with some of the clientele) to be oozing pretension. Nothing sends me scurrying for the door faster than an employee or business owner labouring under the misconception that I am a yokel rube in need of enlightenment respecting the ways of better society. This did not happen at Corkscrew Wine and Cheese. I did not leave feeling condescended to, insulted, or otherwise disgusted. As a result, we expect to return.

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