Food and wine
What wine with raclette and fondue?
A Savoie white, sharp and light. Red weighs the whole thing down.
Melted cheese, eaten communally: scraped over potatoes and charcuterie (raclette) or dipped into with bread (fondue). Mountain food, eaten in winter, in large quantities.
Why this pairing works
Kilos of melted cheese: the palate saturates fast. You want a very acidic white, almost cutting, that resets things between mouthfuls. Red, by contrast, grows heavy against the fat.
Look for on the list
Apremont
20–34 €The Savoie white par excellence: light, lemony, and the wine of raclette country itself.
Roussette de Savoie
24–40 €A little fuller than Apremont, if you want a wine that lasts the whole meal.
Côtes du Jura
26–48 €The neighbour from the Jura: its hazelnut note answers the mountain cheese.
What to avoid : Reds, which make the meal leaden. And iced water: Savoyards will tell you it sets the cheese solid in your stomach.
The ranges are restaurant prices for a full bottle. By the glass, reckon on roughly a quarter. At a wine shop, divide by two or three.
What to say
« Un vin de Savoie avec la raclette, vous en avez ? »
pronounced : uhn van duh sa-VWA a-vek la ra-KLET, voo zon a-VAY
A Savoie wine with the raclette: do you have one?
Yes, but on this list?
Knowing which style of wine you want still does not tell you which one to take from the thirty lines in front of you. Photograph the list: Cépage compares what is actually available, at your budget, and decides.
Scan a list