Praise Cheeses / Raclette me at 'em

Had a great wine and food experience at my sister Sophie and her partner Mark's place on Friday night.

The brief was cheese and wine.

We like to think outside the box...

You may not know that Sophie and I spent the first 8 and 6 respective years of our lives in Switzerland. Mama and Daddy Banks moved to the land of cheese and chocolate in 1975, 'just for a few years' to take up a job at the GATT; they did in fact fall in love with the place and stay nine years, returning with a troupe of three kids. Little Jules was only 18 months when we returned but there's still plenty of cuckoo in him.


One of the great culinary curios we brought back with us is Raclette.

Traditionally Raclette is a semi firm cheese, in a round of about 6 kgs which diners would halve and then heat in front of the fire and scrape onto their dishes, over potatoes and pickled veggies and small goods. The word Raclette is actually derived from the French 'Racler' meaning Scrape.

You can still have Raclette this way all over Switzerland and the Savoie in France but the alternative for ex-pats is a Raclette machine. This machine constitutes a strong Banks tradition and is basically a grill plate on an electric element under which paddles of cheese are placed and on top of which the trimmings can be placed to warm and sizzle.


This is what we dined on at Soph's place Friday night. I managed to source some 'Heidi Raclette' cheese from Jones the Grocer in Doncaster and was tasked with choosing the appropriate wines.

I have been working at a store in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne which has some great little gems from past vintages, one of these gems was a 2005 Woodstock Botrytis Semillon. More commonly 'Dessert Wine'; Semillon grapes are left to overripen on the vine until Botrytis Cynerea known as 'Noble Rot' begins to grow on the grapes. The winemaking process is then undertaken and an incredible magic is produced in the form of white wines which are sweet, smell of apricots and in the best examples have fascinating mineral character, full body and will live a very long time. Woodstock is a winery based in McLaren Vale, making big heavy reds and this beautiful little Dessert. Something for after, I thought. (Not that it wouldn't be pretty fun during)

I also knew I had a bottle of 2005 Brown Brothers Patricia Sparkling in the fridge at home and felt like this would be just perfect before and during the cheese feast.

Let me tell you; despite their reputation for cheap, sweet, unsophisticated fizzy wines, Brown Brothers excel in world class, complex, long lived premium wines which will stand proud and tall next to any other wine of their kind. As I said to Mark; if you need a premium wine for a special occasion, a gift, or just to spoil, Patricia is a no-brainer.

I have seen Patricia Cabernet next to Chateau Lynch Moussas, Patricia Chardonnay next to Leeuwin Estate Art Series, Patricia Sparkling next to Louis Roederer and Bollinger and let me say they put in quite a performance, easily equaling and often outshining these far more expensive and famous wines. (get Pat for about $40!)

Sophie is responsible for possiby my very favourite appetiser - Gougeres - an incredible baked choux pastry mixed with Gruyere cheese which has its origins in Burgundy.

And so with this delight we started the evening, after firing the cork out of the Patricia, (and toasting a new job for Soph), we tucked into this brilliant, indulgent feast, the bubbly cuddled up to the food with lovely flavours of citrus and gentle bready notes, the texture just enough to cut through the oily cheese. So much of the enjoyment in this meal is the interactiveness. Loading up your paddle with cheese, sliding it under the heat (I like to get mine get REALLY melted, to the point of crispy edges), hearing the potatos sizzle on the grill and deciding where to scrape your next ooze of Fromage; on the spuds? Over some prosciutto and a round of Baguette? Just onto the plate to behave as the world's best sauce?

Heaven.

Mark had some amazing chocolate from Haigh's and I too had brought some Willies Chocolate and, although the flavours of chocolate and Botrytis Semillon aren't necessarily a perfect match (better off with Key Lime Pie?), there was a feast of sweetness to be had and I indulged heavily. The wine was soft and alluring, classic apricot and mineral notes with a palate that was slightly over sweet and short (although this is possibly attributable to the choc).

We reclined on the lounge and concluded that remorse is pointless when food and wine are this good.

DB out.