Spring Wine and Cheese Board

Thank you Decoy for sponsoring this post! Find your own bottle here.

This Spring Wine and Cheese Board is the best way to feel like you’re treating yourself to a fun night in with little to no effort! They’re completely customizable and I’ll teach you the best tips, tricks and substitutions for the most delicious wine and cheese board possible!

Is anyone else getting slightly tired of cooking full meals yet? Believe me, I love cooking – I mean, it is my job! Ha! But, to be honest, it’s kind of the last thing I want to do lately – especially on the weekends when I just want to sit back and relax! 

So…enter this Spring Wine and Cheese Board! It’s the perfect accompaniment to a date night or family game night at home! Not only is no cooking required, it is super delicious, so very simple and pairs excellently with Decoy Merlot! 

By now, you all know that Ben and I love a good red wine – I’m so very excited to be partnering with Decoy for this post!

This particular wine – the Decoy Merlot is out of this world delicious! It’s jammy, full of dark fruit notes like blueberries and plum and has a lovely bit of cocoa undertones. Needless to say, with Decoy, you’re sipping at home in style! So let’s get into how to enjoy all of this…

Essentials for a Wine and Cheese Board 

Basic essentials for this board? Wine (specifically Decoy Merlot). And cheese. 

Simple enough, right? 

But, if you’re curious, there are some essentials (in my humble opinion of course) that constitute an over the top delicious cheese board. 

Cheese – yes! And different types of it. 

It’s good to have different kinds of cheese for a variety of reasons. For one, it’s nice for texture. Two, it’s good for different flavors to be present. And three, it would just be terrible if you made a cheese board with just blue cheese only to find out that your significant other hates blue cheese!

For this particular board, I used an extra sharp white cheddar cheese, a tomato basil cheese and finally, goat cheese that I drizzled with honey. 

So we see here that I used a sharp cheese that’s crumbly, a mellow flavored cheese that’s more chewy and finally, tangy + sweet cheese that’s spreadable and soft!

Another essential for this board? Something to eat the cheese on aka crackers or a toasted baguette! I used both because we all know how much I love carbs. 

You can normally find a pack of variety entertaining crackers at the store – but in case you can’t, I would use a couple of different shapes and flavors of crackers. For example, a round butter cracker is always a crowd pleaser and a rectangular rosemary cracker would work great with that. 

A few other essentials? 

Something salty! You can use a jar of olives, or for me – that something salty was different types of cured meats like peppered salami, pepperoni and capicola and prosciutto. 

Something fresh! I prepared my sundried tomato bruschetta recipe and it added a brightness to the board that was needed.

Something sweet! This can either be found in slices of fresh fruit (my go-to’s are apples or pears) or you can add a few squares of dark chocolate onto the board. 

Ingredients You’ll Need: 

• Decoy Merlot 
• A variety of cheeses (I used sharp white cheddar, tomato + basil, and honey goat cheese) 
• Crackers and/or toasted baguette slices 
• Cured meats (Salami, capicola, pepperoni)
• Jarred olives or bruschetta 
• Fresh fruit (apples or pears) 

How to Build the Board 

I feel like so much pressure is put on building the perfect cheese board but the truth is – if you’re with someone you love, sipping wine and eating the ingredients, no one says it has to be Instagram worthy! 

But…if you’re curious, it’s pretty simple how to build a board! 

First, you need a nice wooden cutting board OR a marble board, whatever you have on hand that works to display this goodness on! 

Make sure that with each different ingredient, you’re slicing it roughly the same size. So for the white cheddar cheese, make sure that each slice is similar – that goes with the other cheeses, fruit slices and baguette slices as well! It just looks nicer and more uniform on the board. 

Alternate ingredients – try to alternate ingredients and separate them with crackers, a baguette slice etc. 

But…do you want my true advice when it comes to building a cheese board? Just GO FOR IT! 

Have fun! Pour a glass of the Decoy and enjoy the process and know that no matter how it looks, it’s going to be delicious and you’ll be spending quality time with your loved ones!

Substitutions 

During this time, I definitely advocate for using what you might already have in the fridge or pantry! So, here is a list of substitutions for this board just in case you might not have the ingredients I listed. 

Cheeses: Mild Cheddar, Blue Cheese, Gouda, Brie, Feta, Provolone

Crackers: Any dried fruit variety, Whole Wheat Crackers, Cracked Pepper Crackers 

Meats: Bite sized cured meats, Soprasetta

Fruit: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes

Freshness: store-bought bruschetta, a creamy fresh veggie dip

Sweetness: dark chocolate, truffles, peanut butter cups

In regard to the wine…there is no substitution for Decoy’s Merlot! It’s so good – y’all have to try it! If you’re interested in learning more about them, follow them on Instagram @decoywines!

Hope you guys enjoyed this fun recipe – stay safe and well! Xo – Haylie