II’m a big fan of cheese fondue. I love to eat it in the last two weeks of December, but almost never in the rest of the winter months, unless I’m skiing in Switzerland or on the Arlberg. In France, where cheese fondue is particularly traditional in the Jura and Savoy, I’ve always dealt with Comté and Beaufort, but when it comes to fondue, my true love is Swiss cheese: spicy Gruyère from the Friborg Pre-Alps as well as real Emmentaler or else On the advice of my Valais friends, instead of the holey Emmentaler Vacherin de Friborg for the classic Freiburg fondue “moitié-moitié” (half-half). What I will never tell the Valais: I am also melting a quarter of Vacherin Mont d’Or from the French Jura …
But which wine goes well with the fondue? It stands and falls with the quality of the ingredients. I have never saved on cheese, and I prefer to leave stinginess to those who can do it when it comes to wine. The fact that the Valais resort to the Fendant (also known as Chasselas) is always a convincing solution. A Fendant as well as a matured Chasselas from Vaud, such as a Dézaley, is usually light and not too aromatic, but still tasty and has a delicate acidity in its medium-weight body. A Fendant classic is Les Terrasses by Jean-René Germanier from Vétroz in Valais (14.50 euros, via linke-weine.de). It not only works excellently in and with fondue, but is generally an excellent morning wine because it is not too heavy and pleasantly mild.
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