Drink Wine and Eat Cheese as You Follow the Tour de France

If the thought of cycling almost 2,200 miles across France’s five main mountain ranges and parts of Germany, Luxemburg, and Belgium makes you tired…and hungry…you’re not alone. Mere mortals may instead choose to watch this year’s Tour de France—which runs from July 1 to July 23—on a screen from the more comfortable seating of home. But you can still feel like part of the race thanks to the spectacular wine and cheese pairings that Will Frischkorn, co-owner of meat-and-cheese emporium Cured in Boulder, has put together for the fifth annual Cured de France.

Frischkorn draws on his personal experience riding in the 2008 Tour de France and years spent eating around Europe as a pro cyclist to make his Cured de France picks. In other words, these aren’t just any French (or German or Belgian) wine and cheese match-ups—each is thoughtfully selected according to the stages of the Tour and the terroir of the land. In fact, the first stage (July 1 thru 3), which begins in Germany, doesn’t even showcase wine, but rather a bold, complex German eisbock paired with a semi-soft cheese washed in local herbs.

Kevin Kinnear, a Westminster-based water rights attorney and avid cyclist, has been a fan of the Cured tour since it began in 2013. He buys the full program every year, enjoying the pairings with his wife on their patio when they get home from work. “The coolest thing is how [Cured] brings in cheeses they don’t normally carry,” says Kinnear. “It’s a way to live vicariously through the Tour as it moves around the country…and taste cheeses that are not readily available in Colorado.”

Frischkorn has divided this year’s tour into eight tasty stages; head here for all the cheesy, winey details. You can buy individual stages for $50 each, or enjoy the entire tour for $350. For $95 (within Colorado), Cured will ship the entire package to your door. Bon appétit!