"I'm getting blackberries, I'm getting pepper, I'm getting tarmac, I'm getting $100,000 a year to talk about wine like this"...Some eonophiles can drive you bonkers. But if you want the right wine without a pretentious sales pitch, to go with an unusual lump of artisan cheese, head to Arrowine and get them both there.

Doug Rosen first worked there aged 18. Now, over 30 years later, he owns the business. It's Virginia's longest running fine wine and gourmet cheese shop, he says. 

He and his team taste up to 600 wines a month from cellars at home and abroad. They go to Europe four times a year to choose the wines and regularly to boutique vineyards on home turf. "Nobody in the region spends as much time as me and my staff sourcing wines. We don't wait for people to bring the wines to us - we go out and find them first."

You too can put a few of the wines through their paces, at weekly tastings on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. When you've made your pick, move along to the cheese counter. Rosen is equally confident of the quality of his cheeses. He has four experts going out to source them. Perry Soulos heads the cheese and deli sections, along with Aldo Molina, ex-Dean & DeLuca and Fresh Fields (as it was in his day) cheesemonger. "We have the finest cheeses in the region," Rosen firmly states. Better than Cheesetique? Dean & DeLuca?  "No question. Nobody in the area is in our league." Cowgirl Creamery? "Second rate."

His range of American artisanal cheeses is broad, and there is a wide choice of some lesser known European varieties. Even the familiar ones may come from quite unusual sources, like the Stilton sourced from Coulsden Basset (not pronounced, as the young helper would have it, with a French twist  'Coolsdong Bassay' but just as it reads. Come on, it's an English cheese...). Rosen emphasizes it's not just what he stocks but how he stocks his cheese, keeping it at controlled temperatures to sell in peak condition.

In the deli counter are Fra 'Mani salamis, along with D'Artagnan duck products, even a D'Artagnan wild boar salami, and pates by Three Little Pigs. You'll find Uptown Bakeries' baguette, considered among Washington's best by much of the French community, and H & H Bagels from New York. Uncommon treasures on the general shelves include Hawaiian and French sea salt, Spanish smoked paprika, Rustichella D'Abruzzo pastas, pasta sauces from Patsy's restaurant in New York, and chocolates by Michel Cluizel, Knipschildt Chocolatier, and more. Did I mention Kill Devil Coffee from the Front Porch Cafe in Kill Devil Hills, NC? Oh, and over 100 different bottled beers...

Arrowine, 4508 Lee Hwy, Arlington, 703 525 0990.

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