Sneaky Reblochon & Juicy Apremont

Anyone holidaying in the French Haute-Savoie can’t escape it: the richly aromatic smell of the local reblochon. The scent of this full-bodied raw-milk, washed-rind cheese either seduces you or makes you recoil. Fortunately, there’s always a juicy bottle of Apremont nearby to wash it down smoothly.

Alpine breezes through wine and food
The great thing about wine and food from the same region is how beautifully they match. Whether that’s because of the same surroundings, or because the dishes are adapted to the wine? Maybe we just like to think so. Either way, in mountainous Savoie – just below Lake Geneva – it’s no different. In this small but gastronomically tantalising corner of France, the many dried sausages, cheeses and wines are each other’s best friends. In the local survival food for the mountain farmer’s winter, you can taste the pure mountain streams and Alpine herbs. Just as you can in the local wine.

Even though the smell of the more mature washed rind sometimes has more in common with the cowshed in that meadow

Sneaky cheese
Reblochon is one of those little cheeses in which you can smell the Alpine meadow. Even though the smell of the more mature washed rind sometimes has more in common with the cowshed in that meadow. The reblochon fermier – with the green label – is the tastiest and, like wine, has an AOC designation. Only the milk of the Abondance, Tarine or Montbéliarde mountain cows may be used for it, and the cheese comes directly from farmers in the Haute-Savoie.

The name comes from the French reblocher and means something like ‘to milk again’. In the Middle Ages, farmers still had to hand over part of their milk to their landowner. As a form of tax evasion, they didn’t milk the udders completely empty. After the inspection, they milked the rest. This milk proved fuller and creamier and became the basis for reblochon. Hence its – despite the smell – mild, creamy flavour, with a spicy hint of hazelnut as an extra.

All in all, the perfect match for such a hearty dish.

The golden duo: Tartiflette & Apremont
The soft reblochon is delicious on a cheese board, but even better in the local speciality tartiflette. This dish – consisting of potatoes, bacon lardons, onions, cream, white wine, gratinated with a whole reblochon – might as well be spread straight onto your hips. But it is delicious.

The cooking wine is, of course, the same wine you serve. Because cooking with lousy wine is no longer acceptable. The best sparring partner for tartiflette is the pure mountain wine Apremont. This white Vin de Savoie – made from the local jacquèred grape – is dry, fruity (apples and lemon), floral and mineral at the same time. Sometimes even with a slight fizz and little alcohol (11.5%), Apremont is as fresh as an Alpine meadow. All in all, the perfect match for such a hearty dish.

Buy Apremont?
Savoie Apremont | Grapedistrict | € 9,99
Apremont Vin de Savoie | Ton Overmars | € 9,99
Domaine Ravier Apremont Cru Vin de Savoie | Gastrovino | € 10,45
Domaine Jean Masson Apremont Savoie | AndereWijn | € 13,75

Make your own tartiflette?
You’ll find Miss WineLane’s recipe here.