Tnuva Sheep’s-Milk Feta (Israel)

Dila-o Rkatsiteli-Mtsvane 2019 (Georgia)

According to the historical record, cheese and wine were born at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe around 6500 B.C. By 1200 B.C., the Canaanites were shipping brined white cheeses of the same family as feta in clay-sealed jars from Ashdod on the coast of modern Israel to Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Although our brined Israeli sheep’s-milk feta arrives by air in plastic-sealed tubs, the taste is nothing short of divine: a wonderful mix of earthy, sweet, and salt. It is perfect this winter over this Navy Bean and Escarole Stew with our Castelvetrano olives and paired with Dila-o—a fresh unfiltered “amber” wine hand-made in large clay jars buried under the ground by a father and son in Georgia, the country, the birthplace of wine.