This week's pairing matches an aged Dutch gouda full of toffee, caramel, and grass with a barleywine from Colorado. Find out more from our skilled mongers.

Join us at our Lake Street location Tuesday, February 21st from 5pm-7pm as Pastoral's Wine Buyer, Mark Hayes presents "Hands Off!", a free wine tasting highlighting wines made with minimal human intervention.

Our mongers walk you through this week's pairing: a beautiful Cab Franc and a chevre log called St. Maure.

Just in time for Valentine's Day: an artisinal vodka sure to start or end your date on a pitch-perfect note.

You love your friends enough to invite them over to watch football on Sunday, why serve them scary, shelf-stable cheese? We know how addicting those cheesy party dips can be, so we've fashioned our own version using delicious artisan cheese!

Pastoral is proud to offer our artisan products at Intelligentsia Coffee's Chicago Locations.

The credit should all go to the wine however, because it does a lot from the back seat to make this work. Texturally, there is a distinct juiciness with the Milano and Nebbiolo together.

Somewhat belatedly, we find ourselves in the depths of winter, although Im still not sure if were totally there yet. Ive been anticipating blizzards and all the challenges they bring with them since, ooh, November, so I wasnt disappointed when...

Not thrilled about winter's (albeit delayed) arrival? House Sommelier Mark has some a tip on a new wine that'll make winter's arrival a little more bearable for you and your friends.

This week's pairing is a marriage of Kentucky's very own Tomme de Nena and Domaine Sauvete, a white wine from the Loire Valley in France. Read all about why these two work so well together!

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: the key to any great song, any great painting and this spectacular pairing!

The cheese and Porter pair well together. The hazelnut and macadamia nut notes in the cheese glide easily into the root beer/caramely flavors in the beer. The buttery texture of the cheese needs a little more acidity from the Porter to completely cut through the fat and leave the tongue singing.

It's winter and everyone is eating soup these days and we all know that soup is better with cheese, but lets stray away from the cheddars, the alpine cheeses and the parmesans of the world for a second and try something else, something new maybe.

This is a really elegant and classic pairing that should do much to provide a solid base for many a Chicagoan's New Year's party, so let's sell some!

They say good things come in small packages, and that's never been more true than this year with a fresh batch of recipes from our friends at the Merchant Park Community Garden