21 Photos
The Bethmale, from the French Pyrenees,
The cabricharme from Belgium.
The Sofia ashed goat cheese, from Indiana.
Michael Cavaniola at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Summer's Finest Cheeses
Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Patrons at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Patrons at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Various cheeses at Michael at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor. DANA SHAW
Summer's Finest Cheeses
Summer's Finest Cheeses
The cheese vending machines accessible 24 hours a day.
The cheese vending machines accessible 24 hours a day.
In the sweet summertime, “people love buttery, creamy cheeses,” said Michael Cavaniola, and his Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop responds accordingly with a healthy offering of domestic and imported cheeses.
Cheeses of the Burgundy region of France are popular, he said, and pair nicely with wines of the territory.
“What grows together, goes together, they say,” he noted.
“People love truffles now,” he added, so “we sell a lot of truffle cheese and products — like truffles.”
Customers at Cavaniola’s are bathed in luxury, if one defines luxury as a plethora of superb and sublime imported and domestic cheeses. On this July day, a visitor was offered a sample of cabri charme, an enchanting raw goat’s milk cheese from Belgium.
“It’s got a good, hard flavor,” Cavaniola observed. “It’s unlike any other goat cheese — not like the stuff you’re used to.”
This was followed by a Bethmale, from the French Pyrenees, the name of which comes from the village where it is made. Another raw goat’s milk cheese.
“It’s going to be a little more tame” than the cabri charme, Cavaniola said. True, and beguiling in its own way.
Closer to home, the third offering was a Sofia ashed goat cheese, from Indiana.
“Am I a simpleton?” the sampler wondered, “palate forever dulled and conditioned by too many years of ‘processed cheese product’ common to the U.S.A.’s supermarkets? Because this one is the best of all.”
Not to worry, Cavaniola said. “We sell a lot of ash goats and stuff like that during the summer. That goes very good with crisp white wines and rosé.”
Christopher Walsh
Staff Writer on Aug 12, 2024