Limited Wine and Cheese

From a young age, ski Vacation in Switzerland made me excited for one thing: Apres Ski Raclette. For any of you uninitiated, Raclette is the cheese that you see nowadays on Facebook and Instagram, being scraped onto anything from Potatoes (traditional) to hot dogs (no comment).

Something else that I should mention, offer a traditional Swiss a glass of water with their Raclette and they will give you an emphatic "NO". The only things that are traditionally drunk with Raclette are Fendant (a white wine from Valais made from Chasselas) or tea. As a bonus, Fendant is also the classic pairing for Fondue.

But why have most of you probably never heard of this quintessential pairing for the cheese that you have probably consumed at some point? That's because Switzerland keeps 95% of it for domestic consumption, and there are only 9,900 acres of land devoted to Chasselas in the small country, most of it on the slopes of Lake Geneva). For reference, Portugal keeps 64% of its wines domestically.

It is well priced, (think Riva Ranch price point), dry, delicate, with lots of minerality and floral notes. Difficult to get your hands on though. I bought a case last year in SF, and am now down to the late bottle :(. Very difficult to find. The solution? Take more trips to Switzerland and have some of this for Apres :)