Customer Appreciation Open House

Purpose: To thank our customers for supporting us. This should be a festive, fun and entertaining evening of tasting aged wines paired with different types of cheeses.

Execution: Assemble a stunning fruit and cheese platter by following a few key principles to be sure it looks festive and is easy for guests to help themselves. Choose an interesting assortment of cheeses — hard sharp cheeses, soft creamy ones, and pungent blue cheeses. Look for an interesting mix of flavors, textures, and colors.

Use our VC branded slate cheese platters and place each wedge of cheese on the platters without crowding them. Arrange the cheeses with the cut sides facing out, and with several small cheese knives, maybe one for each type of cheese. Use the chalk provide to identify each cheese.

To finish the platter, add grapes, figs, dried fruits, nuts, sliced breads and/or crackers in between the cheese wedges.

Overall, the simpler the design, the better the platter looks. Group each kind of cheese together and add one large bunch of green or red grapes in the center to create a visual focal point. Fill in the spaces with some of the options above.

Wine and Cheese Pairing Suggestions:

Choose one spectacular cheese:

Serve Pierre Robert, a French triple-crème brie, with salty nuts and sparkle a dry white wine or Spanish Rose.
Try Stilton, the great English farmhouse blue, with port.
Serve Montgomery's Cheddar with chutney and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Choose one cheese by country of origin (we chose Spain as an example):

Manchego (aged sheep). Pair with a Merlot.
Cabrales (Sheep, goat, and cow; creamy blue). Serve with Gruner Vetliner or Riesling.
Garrotxa (aged goat). Try with a Riesling.

Choose one cheese from different milks:

Humboldt Fog (Goat). Pair with Sauvignon Blanc (Sancerre, for example) or California Chardonnay.
Pecorino Toscano (Sheep). Excellent with a Tuscan red like Chianti Classico or Brunello di Montalcino.
Bleu des Causses (Cow). Fine with a tawny port or oloroso sherry.
Mozzarella di Bufala (Buffalo). Pour a Chianti.

Choose one milk type, different processes:

Provolone (Pasta filata or stretched cheese). Serve with Chardonnay or an Italian red.
Gruyere (Hard cheese). Pour Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.
Brick (Semi-hard cheese.) Nice with a white wine like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Pinot Gris.
Brie (Soft-ripened cheese). Surprise guests with sparkling wine.
Talleggio (Washed rind, semi-soft cheese). Pair with an Italian red wine.

Keeping it Simple:

Mild goat cheese or brie, serve with a light white wine
Mild cow (Havarti), aged goat, sheep milk cheese, pair with light reds or a rose
Long aged cheddar, mild wash rind (stinky cheese) pair with bold reds
Stiltin, blue cheeses pair with port wine.

Attached are some examples of how to set a beautiful cheese platter.

Print the attached Know Your Cheese In Shop Flyer on white card stock and place in the plastic display holders. This flyer give a brief description of different types of cheeses.

Don't forget to give each customer a VC Wine Simplified pairing card.

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