Wintertime Whites and Raclette
Who says you shouldn’t play with your food?
Nothing builds camaraderie like melted cheese so recently our team got creative and paired our favourite Culmina whites with one of winemaker Jean-Marc's wintertime favourites – raclette. Raclette refers both to the aromatic cheese from the Swiss and French Alps as well as the serving method most common for it.
Interested in hosting your own raclette night? Here are our top tips to enjoy a delicious evening with friends.
The selection and purchase of a raclette grill will be necessary for the evening. While a traditional restaurant in the Alps may heat half-wheels of raclette next to a roaring fire, we like the convenience of the modern stovetop raclette grills with small personal pans. Many kitchenware stores as well as some delis and cheesemongers carry reputable and reliable machines. Assuming that your guests are as hungry as the team here, you will need about 200 grams of cheese per person. Traditional accompaniments for the raclette include steamed potatoes, fresh or pickled onions, cornichons and a selection of charcuterie. Tabletop raclette grills allow for small pieces of cheese to be melted underneath the grill with the option of grilling vegetables on top of the grill. However, we opted to keep things simple with a green salad tossed in a vinaigrette.
Of course, no evening of delicious food and good company would be complete without some complementary wines to pair. Culmina’s classically styled dry white wines provide the perfect pairing for raclette, with our Riesling leading the popularity vote. Decora’s bright acidity, ripe fruit and chalky minerality provides a satisfying complement to the creamy mildness of the raclette. Other samplings were 2021 Unicus, 2018 Dilemma, and the most recent addition to the Culmina portfolio – our 2021 Viognier. Any or all will surely make a delectable addition to your next Raclette Night!