January 5, 2013 

  WHITE HERON CELLARS' RACLETTE FOR PRUNERS
 
PLEASE SET YOUR MARGINS TO VIEW THE THIRD ROW OF FOUR PICTURES

The day after John's birthday was cool (in more ways than one).  We traveled the hour and 20 minutes to our favorite winery and landscape, above the Columbia River, between Quincy & Wenatchee, WA.  Cameron Fries is the owner of this winery and vineyard.  The event was held to honor and give appreciation to the volunteer wine grapevine pruners from last spring (along with their families).  This year's lunch was very Swiss, Raclette, a Swiss dish consisting of cheese melted and served on boiled potatoes or bread.  Raclette is pronounced [rah-klet'].  Raclette (French, from racler, to rake, scrape), originated in Valais but is made elsewhere in Switzerland and France.  Cameron Fries reasons that Raclette was made before the current political borders were made, such that Valais would have been part of the House of Savoy, and thus of the Holy Roman Empire.  The House of Savoy extended considerably into what is now called France.

Nancy carried her trusty camera to record the event, and will share below.

OverlookingMariposaV-ColGorge  Start of Raclette View  3 hours of Raclette Snow Began
(1) a 2006 view from the winery across the vineyard toward Columbia River; (2) view before Raclette from the bonfire site; (3) three hours later view w/snow and fog,  1/5/13

Winery From Above  Cameron Fries Explains Process for Raclette  Margaret With John Explaining something 
    (1) White Heron Cellars Winery from above;       (2) Cameron Fries explains the Raclette initial steps;   (3)  John explains something to Margaret

 Skewer for holding cheese over coals Setting up skewer Arramging coals Process At Work Cameron Fries
(1) Skewer before its set-up; (2) Lynne watches setting the proper height; (3) Cameron Fries, adjusting, holding scraper (4) Cameron spreading hot coals
     
Potatoes, Bread around the fire  cast iron pans of sauteed onions & potatoes  close up bread & potatoes 
     (1) Fire with potatoes, bread warming             (2) cast iron sauteed onion & potato servers;              (3) Raclette bread and potatoes

  Operation Delivery  early melted cheese scraping (raclette)  Sides for raclette
    (1) 1st Raclette (scraping) melted cheese;  (2) more cheese;  (3) sides of fruit, veggies, picked asparagus & onions, and fine wine.
 
potatoes for melted cheese  plate w/ potato and cheese  closeup plate   
(1) potato ready for cheese; (2) potato with cheese and pepper; (3) another plate view with pickled stuff added & sauteed onions

The first wine we sampled was Arvine, a Swiss grape from Valais and across the border in Val D'Aoste in northern Italy, where Arvine is grown and vinified.  Later we switched to White Heron's Roussanne, a wine made from a grape from the Rhône region of France.  The Arvine will be bottled under the Ancient Lakes AVA, from White Heron Cellars.  The grape is also called, Petite Arvine. 

end of first half cheese  Other half onto Cameron's plate  nice melt
(1) end of small half cheese ring                         (2) replacement of larger half                                   (3) view of a beautiful near final scraping

The cheese used on their device over the coals is a French cheese purchased in Auburn.  This type is especially needed for cooking over coals. "Raclette" ovens are sold, which utilize a squarer "Swiss Raclette" cheese, which has no crust and is specifically made for the oven use.


 For a moving intro (you'll need to view these sideways) : 

Intro to the concept:
 http://youtu.be/F1Txu835gl8

Then peek at the view of John H's plate:

http://youtu.be/t1QMerE1hAA


Awesome Last Raclette Serving

http://youtu.be/THXbjbh0cSs


The winner of the last cook award,                     the last served,


Relief Cook     Roy and Tom

  and the last course

Desserts - Chocolate mouse & apple walnut

End of a nice day; Nancy moved inside with cold feet to thaw with hot tea and a piece of chocolate mousse pie by Phyllis and apple/walnut by Tom.

Sorry, I missed getting photos of everyone, including Phyllis Fries and me, and several others.

We left about 3:00 p.m. for a trip home in the snow on icy roads.  Thank goodness for AWD, because as we approached a few miles east of our I-90 exit for home, we saw two highway patrol cars on the eastbound lanes stopped to view a car on its roof in the median.  We missed it by minutes and traveled on by knowing others were in charge, and we were able to get home just before dark.

Thanks, Cameron and Phyllis for a great culinary experience with good friends, fun, and fellowship.

If you'd like to refer to another page from 2012 about our experiences at this special location, check out:

http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/WhiteHeronCellars2012.html

Comments to John and Nancy Hultquist, nancyh@ellensburg.com