{"id":2851,"date":"2024-07-09T04:30:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/cheese-shops-we-love-valley-cheese-wine\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T04:30:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:30:05","slug":"cheese-shops-we-love-valley-cheese-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/cheese-shops-we-love-valley-cheese-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese Shops We Love: Valley Cheese & Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Valley Cheese & Wine<\/p>\n

1570 West Horizon Ridge Pkwy. #140<\/p>\n

Henderson, NV 89012<\/p>\n

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\"Diana<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Showing up for Cheese <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cCheese is just like us. It’s a representation of how it’s been treated throughout its lifecycle,\u201d says Diana Brier, owner of Las Vegas\u2019s Valley Cheese & Wine<\/a>. \u201cIf it had a bullshit time it’s probably not going to show up pretty well for you, is it? That’s why these cheeses that are just choking in vacuum seals are not going to show up as anything other than barnyardian and lipolytic because if you suffocated me in my own juices, I’d be pissed too.\u201d Given this philosophy, it\u2019s no wonder that Brier\u2019s mission for her store is, \u201cwe are kind here when we are here\u201d: to the cheeses, the personnel, and the clientele. It\u2019s not only her business, but her refuge, and she is determined to keep it as such.<\/p>\n

Valley Cheese & Wine presented itself as an ownership opportunity to Brier exactly when she needed it to. She\u2019d moved to Las Vegas for the dry heat that was critical to her health and had stopped into the store for a bottle at a low moment. She\u2019d spent time working for a cheese warehouse and distribution operation, and had toyed with making her own cheese, when she came to the unfortunate realization that, \u201cI (thought) I had to leave Las Vegas because there\u2019s just not enough cheese here.\u201d The former Valley Cheese & Wine owner, who knew Brier through her distribution work, said in response, \u201cI can\u2019t believe you came in today. I just decided to sell the shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brier maintains that this is always how cheese has shown up for her, throwing her a lifeline and illuminating the path forward when she wasn\u2019t sure what to do next. So it\u2019s no wonder she treats it with appropriate reverence.<\/p>\n

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\"Valley<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The Store<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To an East Coaster\u2019s eyes, the first thing one notices about Valley Cheese & Wine is how expansive it is, with a footprint that seems closer to a department store than a typical cheese shop, with shelves upon shelves of bottles, on top of a full deli with cases for artisan cheeses and meats, and copious tables stacked with artisanal cheese-adjacent products like jam and chocolates. The back of the store also features standing tables made from repurposed wine barrels that encourage people to linger.<\/p>\n

Those tables were essential to the clubhouse feel that Brier wanted to create. Taking over Valley Cheese & Wine mid-pandemic would be a challenge, but Brier was nonetheless up for it. Dubbed the Wonder Woman of Cheese by a former employer, (partially due to some cuff tattoos but also a certain badassery that is apparent immediately upon meeting her,) she recognized the need to refocus the efforts of the store on both the cheese and the wine, and to make it more than just a place to run an errand, but a destination unto itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I took over, I wanted to reimplement everything in the deli,\u201d says Brier. \u201cWe needed to have a cheese professional and a wine professional on site as much as possible, to open up the scope of possibility to everyone, which is why we implemented happy hour, and which is why I started a practice that you can take a bottle off the shelf and drink it while you’re shopping. We want you to have an excuse to come on the other side of town and spend some time here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Featured Cheeses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Brier\u2019s happy hour program was a \u201cfield of dreams,\u201d type of initiative. \u201cIf they come, they will stay,\u201d she says. \u201cSo the happy hour is basically a three cheese and prosciutto board and a bottle of wine for $40, that you could have in house or that’s also available curbside and to go.\u201d <\/p>\n

Las Vegas has become a culinary destination in its own right in the last couple of decades, and according to Brier is ripe for artisanal cheese. She says her customers are a mix of well-traveled types who are very familiar with world cheeses, as well as those who are looking for basics such as smoked gouda, so Brier\u2019s happy hour cheese board was designed with both camps in mind. \u201cWe’re able to really train palates here and really help people reframe their mindsets about cheese,\u201d she says. Recently happy hour selections have included:<\/p>\n

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\"Delice<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

D\u00e9lice de Bourgogne<\/a><\/h3>\n

A buttery, soft-ripened, French triple cr\u00e8me blended with cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche that serves as an intro to other deluxe cheeses like Brillat Savarin and Explorateur. \u201cI would put it in as an entry level cheese, because it’s so butter-forward and just has a little bit of those mushroomy undertones,\u201d says Brier, \u201cbut still your aficionado is going to keep it as an old faithful. It’s very affable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Artigiano\u00ae<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Artigiano\u00ae Aged Balsamic & Cipolline Onion Cheese<\/a><\/h3>\n

A complex but approachable cheese that straddles the line between sweet and savory in every element: the vinegar, the onions, and the mixed-culture, crystalline cheese itself. \u201cThat\u2019s a big mover for us,\u201d Brier adds.<\/p>\n

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\"Shooting<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Shooting Star Sagittarius<\/a><\/h3>\n

A cow and sheep milk, gouda-style cheese from wunderkind Avery Jones that Brier likes to use as an introduction to more complex, sheep\u2019s milk cheeses, but with a familiar, gouda format. \u201cShooting Star Creamery is flying under the radar and shouldn’t be,\u201d says Brier. \u201cI mean, (Jones) might be out of high school, but I don’t think she’s in her 20s yet. And working with sheep milk first, you’re just like, okay, who starts with sheep?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Valley<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Also Look For <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Brier teaches frequent classes at the store on a variety of topics that are never the same from class to class. \u201cI like to be playful, but I also like to be serious,\u201d says Brier. In addition to Cheese 101 classes that break down major categories of cheese, and straightforward pairing classes featuring not only wine but also beer and other beverages, Brier also revels in a creative approach to cheese education:<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m doing a nostalgia series, because I\u2019ve noticed everybody’s been really 90s nostalgic lately,\u201d says Brier. \u201cSo we’re actually going to decorate the classroom more like a classroom you would expect from your education in the 90s. Everybody’s gonna have a little sack lunch with their name and a handwritten note about how great they’re doing in life on a napkin. There\u2019s going to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cup of applesauce, a fruit cup, and a bag of chips. And I’m going pair all of those things with cheeses and wines while watching \u2018Saved by the Bell.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That definitely covers the playful side, but as for serious? \u201cI have been asked for a cheese chemistry class,\u201d says Brier, who is well-equipped to teach such a topic having basically touched every aspect of the cheese business from monger to production manager to affineur during her cheese career. \u201cBut then people get really weird about signing up,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause yeah, if you ask me for a cheese chemistry class, you’re going to get a cheese chemistry class, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valley Cheese & Wine 1570 West Horizon Ridge Pkwy. #140 Henderson, NV 89012 \u00a0 Showing up for Cheese \u201cCheese is just like us. It’s a representation of how it’s been treated throughout its lifecycle,\u201d says Diana Brier, owner of Las Vegas\u2019s Valley Cheese & Wine. \u201cIf it had a bullshit time it’s probably not going … Okumaya devam et “Cheese Shops We Love: Valley Cheese & Wine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}