Wine and Cheese Pairing - April 3rd, 2026

Four Wisconsin cheeses. Four wines to match. Zero pretension.

Stop in anytime between 3 and 9 PM and work your way through a four-course pairing that builds from light and bubbly all the way to bold and earthy — and gives you a genuinely great reason to be at a wine shop on a Friday afternoon.

All cheese comes from Wisconsin. The wines come from France, Germany, and Italy. It all works together, we promise.

THE LINEUP

COURSE 1
Carr Valley Creama Kasa + Veuve Olivier Brut | France

Carr Valley's Creama Kasa is a triple-cream cow's milk cheese made by certified Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook, whose family has been making cheese in Wisconsin since 1883. Triple-cream means it's obscenely rich — buttery, velvety, and practically spreadable at room temperature.

We're pairing it with Veuve Olivier Brut, a French sparkling wine with aromas of citrus, brioche, and fresh butter, and a clean, dry finish. The bubbles cut through the fat in the cheese. The cheese makes the bubbles taste richer. It's one of the great pairing principles in the world, and this is where we're starting the night.

COURSE 2
Hook's Butterkäse + Shelter Winery Chardonnay | Baden, Germany

Tony and Julie Hook have been making award-winning cheese in Mineral Point, Wisconsin since 1976. Butterkäse — German for "butter cheese" — is a mild, semi-soft, creamy cheese with a gentle tang and a smooth finish. It's exactly as rich as the name implies.

Shelter Winery is a husband-and-wife operation in Baden, Germany, making some of the country's most acclaimed white wines — their Chardonnay earned 95 points from a major critic and has been called one of the finest German Chardonnays ever produced. On the nose: apricot, pomelo, and a hint of butter. On the palate: fresh acidity and stony minerality.

Buttery cheese meets buttery wine. Same country, great chemistry.

COURSE 3
Hoard's Bélaire + Pas de Problème Pinot Noir | Languedoc, France

Hoard's Dairyman Farm Creamery in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, is home to the oldest continuously registered Guernsey herd in North America — a lineage tracing back to W.D. Hoard's original cattle from the 1800s. Their Belaire is a Port Salut-style cheese made from that Guernsey milk: mild, creamy, soft-textured, with a distinctive bright orange rind. Multiple gold medal winner. Easy to eat and genuinely impressive.

Pas de Problème — French for "no problem" — is a Pinot Noir sourced from 30-year-old vines on clay-limestone slopes in the Languedoc, just 20 minutes from the Mediterranean. Aromas of raspberry, red currant, and wild strawberry with a nuance of mocha and spice. Silky tannins. No added sulfites, unfined, unfiltered.

The light, fruit-forward Pinot lifts the creaminess of the cheese without overpowering it. It's the easiest pairing on the board — which is exactly why it's called what it's called.

COURSE 4
Hook's 5 Year Cheddar + G.D. Vajra Nebbiolo Langhe | Piedmont, Italy

Hook's ages this cheddar in their own temperature-controlled curing caves for five full years. The result is bold, complex, and unmistakable: sharp and acidic with deep caramel undertones and a satisfying crunch from the calcium crystals that develop during long aging. One of Wisconsin's most celebrated cheddars — and the reason this course is last.

G.D. Vajra is one of Piedmont's most respected family producers, farming organically in Barolo country since the early 1970s. Their Langhe Nebbiolo is made from young-vine parcels — essentially Barolo's approachable, earlier-drinking sibling. Vibrant aromas of rose petals, violets, raspberry, and red cherry. Crunchy red fruits, orange peel, and earthy mineral undertones. Light tannins, good acidity, elegant structure.

The five-year cheddar's intensity needs a wine with real character to keep up — and Nebbiolo's firm structure, floral aromatics, and mineral depth do exactly that. The caramel notes in the cheese and the cherry-raspberry fruit in the wine play off each other in a way that'll make sense the moment you taste it.

THE DETAILS

Date: Friday, April 3rd
Time: Stop in anytime between 3 PM – 9 PM
Tickets: $30 each | 40 available total
Take-home offer: 10% off any cheese and/or event wines to bring home — in whatever amount you'd like

EJ's Wine Shop is located in the Historic Millwork District of Dubuque, Iowa. We believe wine and cheese should be for everyone — not just people who already know what "terroir" means.

Questions? Reach us at cheers@ejswineshop.com or visit ejswineshop.com.