Schreyer Edelzwicker

2022 Schreyer Alsace Edelzwicker....$16.99
90% Pinot Blanc, 10% Muscat

Great wine from Alsace - great food wine, great with fish!
Each year the blend of Schreyer Edelzwicker is slightly different. However, year after year it remains a crisp, aromatic wine, that combines the best elements of classic Alsatian grape varieties, into a single wine. In this vintage the combination of Pinot Blanc and Muscat produce a wine that is much more complex than either grape on its own. The Pinot blanc gives the wine gives the wine its structure with a hint of citrus, and silky stone-fruit flavors. While the Muscat imparts a hint richness and gives the wines beautiful aromatics. Schreyer Edelzwicker makes an excellent aperitif wine, and it is a perfect match for fish, poultry, and even sushi.

Dogfish Head Hop Pickle!

Yes, we have Dogfish Head -- in a pickle jar!

Made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA...

Brooklyn Brine Company Hop-Pickle....$9.99 16oz jar

Dogfish, Brooklyn Brine make 'damn fine' Hop-Pickle

Inspired by an a-ha moment, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Brooklyn Brine have collaborated on a first-of-its-kind culinary leap of taste: the Hop-Pickle.The all-natural, earthy Hop-Pickle is made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, caramelized onions and Cascade hops and is packaged by hand in Brooklyn Brine's small artisanal kitchen.

Sam Calagione and Shamus Jones 

Photo by Ninetynine Films

"One day last fall, I was sitting there having a 60 Minute and some Brooklyn Brine pickles while reading the newspaper," says Dogfish Head President and Founder Sam Calagione. "When I tried them together, that earthy bitterness that both share was magnified. I thought it was perfect, and within a week, I called Brooklyn Brine."

The pickle maker was in from the get-go, says Shamus Jones, who founded Brooklyn Brine three years ago in borrowed kitchen space. Jones and his small team are craft beer fans, and the companies share the same DNA.

"We're much like Dogfish was 15 years ago," says Shamus. "We're a tiny operation, but we have a clear vision. We make damn fine pickles."

Sam saw the same parallels. "It's about two like-minded, artisanal companies who are passionate about what they're doing and fearless about putting unique ingredients into what they make," he says. "The opportunity to do this together is pretty special."

Brooklyn Brine

Jack Daniels new RYE

Jack Daniels Rested Tennessee Rye...$44.99
Our Tennessee Rye has been “resting” quietly in our barrelhouses these past few years and we invite you to watch it mature along with us with this limited release. The spice character from the rye grain remains from the original Unaged Rye, but the barrels have begun to assert their toasted oak and vanilla notes into the rye whiskey.
Charcoal mellowed, matured in a new white oak barrel and offered only in this small batch. We think you will appreciate how our Tennessee Rye is maturing.

Jack Daniels Unaged Tennessee Rye...$44.99
Jack Daniel’s Unaged Tennessee Rye is Jeff Arnett’s exploration into the intriguing flavor drawn from premium rye. It's the first time since before Prohibition the Jack Daniel Distillery has used a new grain recipe. Rye has always been part of the Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 grain bill but it has never been the lead grain until now.
When our tasters sampled it after distillation, they said this should not wait to be released. Jack Daniel’s Unaged TN Rye is offered only in a small batch and in limited supply so the majority of the new rye whiskey can mature in Jack Daniel’s barrelhouses for future release.
Although this unaged rye is not a mature whiskey, it offers a spicy, surprisingly sweet flavor. Whiskey enthusiasts and those who aspire to be “master tasters” are sure to appreciate its raw nature. It’s a chance to taste the unaged spirit as our master tasters do, appreciating what the grain adds to the whiskey before the spirit draws its flavor from the barrel.

Chateau Virgile Costières de Nîmes

In stock at all 4 of our locations!

Chateau Virgile is a family-owned domaine is managed by two brothers, Serge and Thierry Baret in the Costières de Nîmes (which starting in 2004, is now part of the Cotes du Rhone)

2010 Chateau Virgile Costières de Nîmes Blanc...$11.99

Blend: Marsanne 40%, Roussanne 40%, and Viognier 20%
Tasting Notes: Château Virgile’s white is truly a classic Rhône blend. The Roussanne, with peach and apricot flavors, gives the wine weight, texture, and body. Next, the Marsanne adds lively acidity, a hint of minerality, and citrus fruit flavors. Finally, the Viognier adds tropical fruit flavors to the wine, as well as beautiful, floral aromatics. This is a great wine for just about any type of shellfish, especially seared scallops.

2009 Chateau Virgile  Costières de Nîmes Rouge...$11.99 

Blend: Syrah 60%, Grenache 30%, and Mourvèdre 10%
Tasting Notes: This is a rich and intense Costières de Nîmes dominated by Syrah fruit in the blend. In the nose black fruit mixes with garrigue spice. The mouth is full of black raspberry, black cherry, cassis, and white pepper. This wine shows an extraordinary amount of character and complexity for a entry-level Costières de Nîmes.

Technical Notes: This wine really shows off the great terroir at Château Virgile. The vines, situated at the edge of a plateau in very deep gravel, produce dark, concentrated wines. The Château Virgile Rouge does not spend any time in oak and is aged exclusively in tank. It is lightly fined and filtered before bottling.


info from the importer United Estates -- read more about them

Anne Gros et Jean-Paul Tollot

In stock at all four locations


Famous Burgundy producers, Anne Gros and Jean-Paul Tollot, invade the south and show off in the Minervois.   These wines are spectacular, they have taken Minervois to a new level.   These are two of the most exciting wines we have found in a long while....

2009 Anne Gros et Jean-Paul Tollot Minervois "Les Fontanilles"..$29.99

This cuvée is made of 4 grape varieties, coming from soils dominated by Assignan sandstone, which face north and west. These small plots, surrounded by scrubland, pine trees, thyme, rosemary and cistus, comprised of: 20 year old Grenache,, 20 year old Syrah, year old Carignan, 40 year old Cinsault.  Each grape variety is complete, and brings to the cuvee its own characteristics. One adds fruitiness and freshness, another adds sweetness, another depth and length, and yet another distinction and energy. (We will let you guess which is which.) This is a classic cuvée! It is fulfilling, full of harmony, and wellbalanced. Matured in casks, the Carignan and Syrah bring in a certain distinction.

"A shrubby, resinous and pungently herbal overtone suggestive of marjoram and rosemary, along with notes of blond tobacco compliment the scents and flavors of ripe, diverse black fruits in Gros and Tollot's 2009 Minervois Les Fontanilles, which offers a seamlessly ripe, texturally-refined, and luscious intensity all the way through to an invigoratingly pungent, saliva-inducingly saline finish. This ought to perform well for at least 5-7 years." 

-- Rated 90/100 The Wine Advocate

2009 Anne Gros et Jean-Paul Tollot Minervois "La Ciaude"...$31.99

Technical Notes: The Ciaude vineyard is composed of south facing limestone and clay soils. In the vineyard the blindingly white limestone of Agel helps to produce wines full of energy. The grapes are hand picked, sorted, de-stemmed, then fermented in stainless steal tanks. The wine is aged in new Burgundian oak barriques for approximately 12 months before bottling. 

Tasting Notes: This classic blend of Syrah, Carignan and Grenache combines finesse with concentration. In the nose, black fruit aromas from the Syrah mix with cherry notes from the and Grenache. In the mouth, the wine is dense and mineral, complemented by hints of exotic spice and garrigue notes from the Carignan. The minerality carries through to the long finish, supported by silky ripe tannins. Though enjoyable now, this wine should hold up, and gain complexity for many years to come.

"Suggestions of toasted walnut and hickory along with violets, lilac, and hints of vanilla and resin from toasted oak all compliment the rich dark berries displayed in Gros and Tollot's 2009 Minervois La Ciaude. This is another example of plush texture and seamless ripeness allied to a welcome sense of finishing levity and energy such as can by no means be taken for granted from the vintage in question. I suspect this will merit the better part of a decade's attention, though of course a track record for the wines of this domaine is not yet established." 

Rated 91/100 The Wine Advocate

More info than you probably want...but here it is if you do...

The renowned Burgundy producers, Anne Gros, of Domaine Anne Gros in Vosne-Romanée, and her husband, Jean-Paul Tollot, of Domaine Tollot-Beaut in Chorey-lès-Beaune, recently purchased 14 hectares of vines in Minervois. They have constructed a modern winery using their many years of experience to design an ideal winemaking environment. Their attention to detail extends from their winery, to their meticulous work in the vineyards. At their new winery they treat their Minervois with the same care and respect that they use for their grand cru wines in Burgundy.

“The building was conceived to cultivate, receive, make, and care for these fine, terroir specific, wines. It has been designed with great attention to detail, respecting the energies, the wines and the people... A beautiful architectural structure made of simple, but noble, materials...terracotta, wood, stainless steel...Roundness is everywhere... the road, the hills, the tanks, the barrels... the wines.” 

About Our first vintage (2008): “We expected a racy style, laced with minerals, and freshness. However, we got a lot more - A very good balance of sugar and acidity! What is the reason for such a result? Slow ripening, cool nights, and temperatures around 17 degrees Celsius (63̊ Fahrenheit) during the harvest... This reminded us of the standard conditions in Burgundy... Harvest was from September 18 to October 5. This first vintage came to life with anxious anticipation, and it did not disappoint! It is vibrant. Each plot and grape variety was vinified separately in order for us to get acquainted with their individual expressions. We waited a year to discover their nature, and to decide on how best to blend them together.”

For wine lovers, Domaine Anne Gros et Jean-Paul Tollot offers a unique opportunity to rediscover the wines of the Languedoc through the eyes of great Burgundian winemakers. What makes their wines so unique and interesting, is not only their expertise as winemakers, but their extreme sensitivity to the terroir in Minervois.

“We chose the area of Cazelles for the diversity of its soil, made of limestone, clay and sandstone; to discover the 4 main grape varieties (Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault); for the quality and the wide age range of its vines; and for the privileged environment at the foot of the Montaigne Noir (Black Mountain), its altitude of 220 meters is identical to Vosne-Romanée.”

It isn’t easy splitting their time between Burgundy and the Languedoc, but both Anne and Jean-Paul agree that the extra effort has expanded their horizons, and has changed the way they approach winemaking in Burgundy and in Minervois. It took a few years for Anne and Jean-Paul to complete the purchase, build the winery, and for the first time – make wine in Minervois. Their 2008 showed all of the finesse of Bugundian winemaking, combined with the kind of spice, complexity, and the promise of untamed terroir that only the Languedoc can offer.


info from United Estates Importer - read more about them

The Wine and Cheese Place is proud to introduce United Estates

We are proud to introduce to Missouri -- 
United Estates -- an amazing portfolio of wines that have never been in the state before!
I will be posting the wines and emailing the wines out over the next few days.  We will be tasting the wines on Saturday at our stores.
***Click here to see some of their wines we have in stock***


As I have stated many times, the best products in our stores did not find us, we found them. Don't get me wrong, we are presented 100s of wines each week and we find some very good wines through this "normal" method.   This is the "easy" method and these are the same wines that are presented to every shop in St. Louis.  We are not satisfied with the "easy" method.  We go out and aggressively find wines that are not currently sold in Missouri.   Think about it, the best products don't have to be sold to you or pushed on to you, they are desired and sell themselves--you have to find them.

That brings to this small high quality wine importer -- 

UNITED ESTATES WINE IMPORTS Ltd. 

We found United Estates, they did not find us.  When I first talked to Patrick Allen (founder and owner of UE along with his wife) a few months ago, he said that he had not planned any expansion and had no plans to come to Missouri.   We asked him to send us some samples and samples he did send.    The quality of the wines was amazing.   Our whole staff tasted the wines and we were shocked by the quality.   We immediately had him start the registration process with Missouri because we had to have these wines in our stores.   While we waited these past months for the red tape, we tasted more wines from him and the high quality of the whole portfolio is off the charts.   We are very excited to finally introduce these wines to Missouri!     United Estates Wine Imports follows a long line of wines and wine importers that The Wine and Cheese Place "found" and introduced to St. Louis and the state of Missouri**.  

UNITED ESTATES WINE IMPORTS Ltd. is a company dedicated to importing handcrafted, high-quality wines, from artisan estates in France.

Before starting their business, the husband and wife team of Patrick and Connie Allen spent many years living in France and New York. During that time they worked for many major players in the wine business including Becky Wasserman, Neal Rosenthal, William Deutsch, and Michael Skurnik.
After crafting a business plan over many long walks through Central Park they “took the plunge” and in the spring of 2002 moved to France. Their goal was to establish an importing company dedicated to promoting French country wines from villages far off the beaten track.

In France they researched and tasted wines from hundreds of wineries, ultimately creating a unique portfolio of exceptional, handcrafted, artisan wines. Upon return to their home state of Ohio, they took the steps necessary to create the independent importing company that they had dreamed of during their walks in the park. In January of 2004, the first wines imported by United Estates landed in New York.

Though there are now a couple of exceptions to the rule, the South of France still remains the focus for United Estates Wine Imports. It is one of the few remaining “sleeping giants” in the wine world. In the past, the South of France was known for producing large volumes of low quality wine. Today, thanks to the efforts of many talented young winemakers, the region is producing world class wines. United Estates Wine Imports aims to represent producers who have a deep respect for their land, and who are fully dedicated to quality and authenticity.

A brief word about our logo…

The name, United Estates, embodies our philosophy that by working together with these progressive farmers, we can overcome the obstacles that make selling their wines outside of Europe very difficult.

Therefore, we chose the Fleur de Lys, a symbol of unity, as the center of our logo. The fleur de lys is also an old symbol of Provence. Frédéric Mistral once wrote: “the people of … Provence, generally yearned for the white flag with the fleur-de-lys. (That has changed since.) … it seems to me as an unconscious protest of the people against the increasingly excessive centralization … the fleur-de-lys of yore was for the Provençaux (who had always seen it on the coat of arms of Provence) the symbol of an age when governments had more respect for our customs, traditions, and freedoms.”
From: The Memoirs of Frédéric Mistral, Translated by George Wickes

Through the wines we import, you too can experience these beautiful vineyards, and in a tangible way, get to know these dedicated artisan winemakers.


**The Wine and Cheese Place was the first to introduce to St. Louis:  Jorge Ordonez Wines, Dan Kravitz Hand Picked Selections, Kysela Pere y Fils, North Berkeley, Talbott Chardonnays, Philip Togni, Domaine Pegau, La Sirena, Hartwell, and much more....we now add United Estates the list.  Can you also believe we were the first to bring in Yellow Tail wines years ago.  For the first year, we sold every bottle of Yellow Tail in St. Louis - then the wine exploded to one of the best selling wines and millions of cases.