Less is More for The Perfect Cheese Board  

Cheesemonger Kurt Millican of Greys Fine Cheeses shows us why.

“This is the handshake for your board,” Kurt says, presenting me with a wheel of Époisses, a soft French cheese washed in brandy and notorious for its potent aroma. According to urban legend, the cheese was once banned from public transit in France for its fragrance. It’s not subtle, and that’s the point: This is a cheese meant to make an entrance. “Serving this cheese first will wow your guests,” Kurt promises. 

Kurt Mullican grew up eating the Kraft American Singles his father favored, but his experience in food service eventually led him toward something considerably more complex. With the encouragement of his wife, Jackie, he found his way into the cheese business. Together, they started Greys Fine Cheeses in 2019 as an online cheeseboard business in Memphis, where their boards quickly grew into educational workshops, collaborative dinners and pop-ups, eventually leading them to open brick-and-mortar shops. 

The couple opened their first shop in Memphis in 2021, followed by their Sylvan Park location in Nashville in 2022. Greys is now a full-service cheese shop offering an array of artisanal cheeses alongside classes, tastings and other experiences designed to help customers learn more about the cheese they’re eating and the people who make it. 

As this is the season for gathering, we reached out to Kurt for his expert tips on building the perfect cheeseboard. His approach is simple: Start with great cheese, give every element a purpose and resist the urge to pile on more just because there’s room on the plate. 

With the board anchored by the show-stopping Époisses, Kurt adds three more holiday standouts: Chällerhocker, a dense and fudgy Alpine cheese; a crowd-pleasing aged Gouda; and a whole wedge of Stilton, a crumbly, natural-rind blue. Together, the four cheeses offer the variety Kurt is after: something soft and assertive, something firm and nutty, something familiar and caramelized, and something funky enough to challenge with palate. 

“Alpine cheeses, like this Chällerhocker, or a Gruyère or a Comté, are elegant and classy,” he says, delicately stacking the baton-shaped pieces and ensuring the rind is visible. The rind adds aroma, texture and visual appeal, and, according to Kurt, leaving a little rind on each piece satisfies the rules of cheese etiquette. “And rindless cheese is just not very sexy,” Kurt adds. 

Gouda, a Dutch cheese, on the plate bears no rind, but the scraggy, rugged hunks speak for themselves. The flavor is both savory and sweet, featuring warm butterscotch undertones. “I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t enjoy a nice aged Gouda,” says Kurt, explaining that it’s always nice to have one or two fan-favorites on your board. 

The Stilton might push a few guests outside their comfort zone; the English blue is crumbly and earthy, with striking blue-green veins. 

“Most people just haven’t had the right experience with blue cheese,” Kurt explains. Like any cheese, it can range from mild to wild, and finding the right one, or the right pairing, can completely change a person’s mind. In fact, one of Kurt’s favorite pairings is a classic: port and Stilton. The savory tang and earthiness of the blue meet the fortified sweet wine from Portugal, and, according to Kurt, “it’s like the clouds part.” For many people, he says, it’s their blue cheese “aha” moment. 

THE SUPPORTING CAST 
With the cheeses in place, Kurt fills the spaces with a handful of thoughtful pairings, each chosen to bring something different to the bite. 

Crunch 
Sweet and salty, candied spiced nuts bring texture and caramelized sweetness, particularly alongside the Chällerhocker. 

Sweet 
Bitter citrus marmalade plays beautifully against Gouda’s buttery, caramelized flavor and happens to be a good match for bourbon or eggnog, other holiday favorites. 

Acid 
Cornichons cut through the richness of the cheese with a sharp, briny bite. 

Charcuterie 
Bresaola, a lean, air-dried beef cured with juniper and spruce, has a woodsy flavor and is a natural companion to Alpine cheeses. 

Bread 
Skip the cracker assortment in favor of a crusty loaf with a soft, doughy center, particularly if the cheeseboard is dinner. 

The Composition 
When constructing the perfect cheeseboard, Kurt believes less is more. “Don’t confuse abundance with hospitality,” he says. “More food doesn’t necessarily make a guest feel more cared for; thoughtful choices do.” 

Kurt’s concern isn’t aesthetics. It’s excess. He tells me about one fellow monger’s joke about the “salami rose industrial complex”—her way of describing the cheeseboard craze that turned elaborate salami flowers and endless embellishment into an expectation. 

The joke gets at a larger point: A cheeseboard doesn’t need to be complicated to feel special. If a board is piled with ingredients simply to make it look abundant, much of it may end up in 

the trash. Kurt would rather put that excess toward finding and sourcing exceptional cheese. 

THE SIP 

Champagne is Kurt’s ultimate all-purpose pairing for a cheeseboard, particularly when you’re serving several different varieties. Its effervescence refreshes the palate between bites, allowing you to move from one cheese to the next without becoming overwhelmed by richness. 

For more specific pairings, Kurt points to the classics. Light-bodied, fruit-forward red wines work beautifully with Alpine cheeses and Époisses, while a jammy red complements the caramelized flavors of aged Gouda. And when it comes to blue cheese, he recommends leaning into sweetness: port with Stilton, or Sauternes with Roquefort, for example. 

Of course, Kurt’s favorite pairing may be the simplest one of all: whatever you like to drink. “When it comes to flavor pairings, we either overthink it or underthink it,” he says. “I would rather underthink it, for sure.” 

“For me, where we’re at right now, this is the perfect cheeseboard. This is everything you need and nothing you don’t.” 

Explore Greys’ cheese classes throughout the fall. 

Photos by Angela Yoder

GREYS Fine Cheeses 
Sylvan Supply Plaza 
4101 Charlotte Ave., Suite D130 
greyscheese.com 
@greysfinecheeses