Last week I visited one of my favorite local businesses, the Rogue Creamery. They’ve been making fantastic hand-milled cheeses since 1935, and more recently have won international accolades for their blue cheeses. We are fortunate to live just a few miles from the Creamery, and we drop in often to sample several options from their case (they carry a wide selection of international and regional cheeses in addition to their own fine products) before forcing ourselves to select just a few. We like to nibble on some tasty bites with a glass of wine on the patio on a nice evening. I’m proud that our hometown business achieves recognition and acclaim far from our valley here. Perhaps the most famous cheese shop in Paris, Fromagerie Laurent Dubois, recently introduced the grape-leaf-wrapped Rogue River Blue to its customers. The cheeses were also featured at the 2011 HOFEX Food and Hospitality Trade Show in Hong Kong, garnering placements of those products in specialty gourmet shops and fine restaurants throughout Asia. I’m even more pleased, though, with what a good corporate neighbor the Rogue Creamery has long been right here. Last weekend the Creamery threw open its vaults to the public, a sort of garage sale of back stock that needs to be cleared out to make room for the newer cheeses (production goes up in the spring as the local cows feast on the sweet new grass in the valleys and provide the milk for the cheese). That means 40 to 80 percent savings on everything from small bags of “crumbles” of those tangy blue cheeses (great for tossing on salads) to five-pound rounds of cheese to great blocks of cheddar. A portion of the proceeds will go to our local United Way HOPE (Helping Out People Everyday) Chest, which provides emergency funds for people in our county. I was more than happy to pick up some of that delectable Rogue River Blue, some Oregonzola, sharp cheddar and a little (some would say a lot) of this and that to share with friends on an upcoming wine tasting trip to Eastern Washington. And it’s always that much more enjoyable when one knows one is supporting a responsible and responsive community business! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor