Cheese Shops We Love: Tasting House
Tasting House Champagne Bar photo credit Carly Hackbarth©
The Tasting House, located in the posh little downtown strip of Los Gatos, California, is way more than just a cheese shop. It is a restaurant, tasting room, wine shop, bar and we wholeheartedly believe they are worth including as a go-to spot for anyone who knows about and appreciates cheese. Founder and Owner, Denise Thornberry, translates her knowledge about cheese into curating a variety of boards for the wine-centric menu.
When asked about their distinctive approach to curating, Thornberry says, “We focus on small production, quality products often made by families with rich histories and passionate people with stories to tell.” In addition to cheese boards, they offer 18 different cheeses for sale.
Tasting House bar photo credit Carly Hackbarth©
Tasting House was created with pairing in mind, and we all know that the world of cheese provides an extensive landscape for wine pairing. Owners and wine experts, Denise and Mike Thornberry are inspired by the book What to Eat with What You Drink by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen A. Page, which actually launched the idea of opening the restaurant. There are a bevy of sommeliers on the team, bringing a robust pool of knowledge and an exhaustive wine list to play around with.
The space is broken into a variety of areas, with the cheese located behind the new Champagne bar up front. This intimate section, with just a handful of seats, gives a more direct view into the cheese program, with a variety of offerings that are cut and offered as samples by the bar staff, specifically paired with the selection of sparkling wines here. The larger dining room and outside patio area have table service, while a long main bar on the far side of the space is a fun spot to sit and taste (with top notch glassware).
Top Selling Cheeses
Bamboozle photo credit Goat Rodeo
Bamboozle
A washed rind goat and cow’s milk cheese from Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy in Pittsburgh, PA. It is a great version of a beer washed rind cheese that doesn't come across too goat
Fromagerie l’Amuse Wilde Weide
l’Amuse Wilde Weide gouda photo credit Essex Cheese
Gouda, imported through Essex street cheese. It is made by Betty Koster and her husband Martin. It is a crystallized, rich aged cheese.
Valençay Pierre-Yves Beaudouin Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
A classic French mold-ripened chèvre from the Loire Valley. This is a young goat's milk cheese with a characteristic pyramid shape and layer of ash under a bloomy white rind.
Also Look For
Aside from the cheese boards, the menu features a generous amount of dishes, from little bites to larger bistro meals, all with wine pairing suggestions. A few formats, from multi-course tasting experiences to a la carte options, make it a fun way to try a lot of things. The Champagne Bar and wine shop element add more dimensions here, making it a place much more than just a restaurant. The Tasting House just received their second Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for their curated collection of more than 50 wines by the glass and over 500 wines by the bottle.