Wine and cheese are a match made in heaven. Then there’s the wine poured into cheese, like in our favorite melty and rich fondue recipes. Though selecting the right cheeses is key in making Swiss fondue, the type of wine you add to the mix is also crucial. After all, a classic fondue recipe usually calls for about a cup of wine per pound or pound and a half of cheese. To find out what wines work best in fondue recipes, we spoke with Alekka Sweeney, a Pittsburgh-based professional chef with over 15 years of culinary instruction and over 25 years of catering. “White wine is the best to use for fondue; Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio,” the cooking coach told Tasting Table.
Adding wine to a fondue pot serves two main purposes: It helps emulsify the cheese to keep it from separating, and it adds acidity to balance the rich dairy. Overall, it’s unnecessary to choose wines with very complex flavor profiles, since the alcohol cooks as the cheese melts. Instead, you’ll want to select a relatively neutral dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay to complement the best cheeses for fondue, which include Gruyère and Emmentaler. According to Sweeney, “a full bodied wine will clash with the cheese” and can impart bitterness. In most cases, you can use a variety of popular value white wines in fondue — just go with a light-bodied dry variety, since the extra sugar in sweet wines can distract from the cheese.
How to incorporate wine into your fondue pot
To make classic fondue at home, cornstarch-coated shredded cheeses are typically added after the wine has been poured into the heated fondue pot. “The wine is added at the beginning of the process, as this helps melt the cheese,” Sweeney notes. A dry white wine’s tartaric acid prevents the cheese from separating as the cheese melts into a uniform, dip-able texture. Once the cheese melts, seasonings and other ingredients like citrus juice or Kirch, a German brandy made from cherries, are whisked into the pot for extra flavor.
While dry white wine is traditionally used in fondue, since it accentuates the cheeses’ flavor without overpowering them, Sweeney says it’s possible to branch out to other wines, too. “A red wine can be used, [but] you want to look for a fruity and light bodied wine like Pinot Noir, Gamay or Beaujolais,” the private chef says. Adding red wine to fondue will impact the color of the melted cheese and impart a deeper, more complex flavor. So, fondue made with red wine is best served with hearty dipping accouterments like roasted mushrooms or steak. However, if you want to make fondue as they do in the Alps, it’s best to stick with a dry white wine — and maybe reserve the red wine for pairing, along with the bread, pickles, and meats you serve it with.
