Green cheese and Spanish ham: New Lexington wine shop leans into charcuterie & bourbon
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If you’re the kind of person who can’t pass a plate of cheese and crackers without taking a little nibble, then a new spot on Rosemont Garden may be your new go-to.
You will even find really fancy green cheese and ham, but no eggs at this time.
Cibon, a new wine and cheese bar, has joined a cluster of locally owned restaurants on the street near the railroad tracks. The gourmet shop opens June 7 and the Herald-Leader got a sneak peek at what will be on the shelves.
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Brady Barlow and his wife, Megan Winfield, wanted to have the kind of place where friends and strangers could find remarkable and tasty things to go with wine and bourbon. And now they do.
“Simply put, it is wine, libations, fine foods,” Barlow said.
Cibon has about 100 different wines, many not available anywhere else in Lexington, Barlow said. They will be available by the bottle or the case, he said.
Customers also will be able to order a glass from a list of featured wines and get charcuterie and/or cheeses specially paired to go with that wine. And if they find something they like, patrons can order wines and plates for any number of people for parties as well.
“There are few places in Lexington you can go and sit in the front of the house and have a wine by the glass or at a cafe table and have wine by the glass paired with a cheese and charcuterie plate and then also ... come in and buy a case of wine,” Barlow said. “It’s unique. You can buy a bottle of wine, pick any one on the shelf, and drink it here. Or you can take it with you.”
In the back, Cibon also has a private event space with room for up to 15 to host private bourbon tastings and gatherings, which he hopes to start later this summer. Barlow said he has two bourbon specialists who can help those who appreciate Kentucky’s most famous spirit have a fabulous time.
They also hope to launch wine and cheese tasting classes on Mondays and Tuesdays, featuring the 60 or so different cheeses and 15-20 meats and other delicacies such as Spanish Iberico lardo, a kind of cured and seasoned ham fat, that have been hand-picked by general manager Laura Conrow. Conrow is a certified cheese expert who did raclette dinners and cheese appreciation classes at the late lamented Wine + Market gourmet grocery and spirits shop.
She has a case full of temptations such as Serrano cured Spanish ham, bright green Sage Derby cheese from Belton Farm in Britain and special butters including Australian-created Pepe Saya churned by Amish farmers in Pennsylvania. She’s enthusiastic about the table-side melting potential of gourd-shaped caciocavallo, an Italian cheese that Conrow said is “the new raclette.”
Barlow envisions the shop as a great place to start or end an evening, as a complement to nearby Pietana or Rosemont Station, both right across the street. Or any of the restaurants over on Southland Drive.
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Prices will depend on what individual items you select for your plate but you could get a charcuterie plate for two for about $20 to go with a nice glass of wine for $10-$16, Barlow said.
“We’re not trying to break the bank here,” he said. People think of wine and charcuterie as price prohibitive, he said, but Cibon aims to give people a lot of value for the money.
The market area also has gourmet foods from sweets to pastas, many imported.
“I really do think that Cibon is going to fill a gap, because there’s not a ton of places to go and buy these products. It’s not just cheese, we have olive oils, pasta sauces, we have mustards, jams, jellies and libations other than wine, some bourbon and spirits,” he said. “If you’re looking for something to take to someone’s house as a gift, you can know that what you’re purchasing here has been well-thought-out.”
Cibon
Where: 211 Rosemont Garden
Hours: Thursday-Saturday noon to 8 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
Call: 859-317-1182
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