Fashionable Hostess | Amanda S. Gluck
I’ve been looking forward to spending leisurely nights sipping wine and eating cheese out on the deck with my family. While I love to keep nights like these casual, I still have my list of essentials for a gorgeous and delicious spread. So today I partnered with Sterling Vineyards Wines to create this picture-perfect scene. A huge fan of their wine for some time now, I can’t get enough of their Sauvignon Blanc for summer. It is so light, crisp, and dry (or more technically, as the bottle states, it has hints of grapefruit, lemon blossom, and pineapple). It pairs incredibly well with seafood and especially yummy appetizers of cheese.
For this spread, I paired the Sterling Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc with a cheese tray of gruyere cheese and red grapes, but it also pairs well with mozzarella, if you prefer something more light. (BTW, I found an amazing wine and cheese pairing guide on winemag.com.)
When it comes to entertaining outdoors, I highly recommend serving cheese on a board that has a lid (I bought my marble cheese dome at Crate & Barrel) – that way, you don’t have to worry about flies or bugs circulating your spread. Next, a great ice bucket is in order to keep your wine chilled. While mine is no longer available, here are a couple other options I love here and here. Then, while I love fresh flowers, how gorgeous is a cluster of candles on a tray? I bought these at Pottery Barn and rarely light them because they are so pretty on their own! I have had them on my covered patio for over nine months, and they are shockingly resilient to humidity, so if you are looking for a decorative element to add to your outdoor space that is low-maintenance, these are a great idea. Last but not least are your wine glasses. I go back and forth on this a lot – whether to use glass or not outdoors – and I usually decide based on my night’s plans. One drink before dinner equates to glass, a long night with multiple glasses, I go with Tritan, a plastic-type material that looks like glass but won’t shatter or break like glass.
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