Chenin Blanc

In 2002, Etude, a Napa Valley winery that specializes in pinot noir , bought property in the Carneros district for its tasting room and visitor center. The property had once been a distillery and came with barrels of unfinished, aging brandy, some more than 20 years old.

Jon Priest, the winemaker at Etude, sampled and selected the brandies, and now he has made two blends, one that is 100 percent pinot noir from various vintages, and another that is assembled from eight varietals, including pinot noir, French Colombard, muscat, ugni blanc and chenin blanc.

Both brandies were distilled in copper-pot stills, or alembics, though only the pinot noir brandy, which is delicately fruity and as silken as a magnolia petal, is labeled alembic. The blend, called XO, has more depth and complexity, with notes of dried figs, spices and almonds, and lingers on the palate. These brandies are one of a kind and will not be made again.

From an Old Distillery, New Brandies - New York Times

It’s a delightfully fragrant wine, in the green salad, ripe pear, and melon sense, with a prickle of something like cordite, probably from the gravelly terroir.

It has the staunch acidity of a Chenin blanc from the Loire, or an austere Riesling, yet cushions this with modest viscosity and some soft pear-like flavours.

The finish is bone dry: perfect for bouillabaisse. It thrives in coastal dunes, so would seem highly appropriate for McLaren Vale’s Semaphore sands.

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Ormarine Picpoul de Pinet Coteaux de Languedoc 2008 - Adelaide Independent Weekly

PECONIC, N.Y. — The specialists were skeptical when the first vineyard was planted on the North Fork in 1973. Yet less than 40 years later, this narrow northern finger of eastern Long Island has become one of the world’s promising new wine regions.

PECONIC, N.Y. — The specialists were skeptical when the first vineyard was planted on the North Fork in 1973. Yet less than 40 years later, this narrow northern finger of eastern Long Island has become one of the world’s promising new wine regions.

Easily reached by ferry from New London, Conn., the region is perfect for a “Sideways’’ road trip from New England. More than 35 wineries along a 20-mile stretch between Southold and Aquebogue court tasters and buyers — handy, since many of the wines are available only through direct sales.

Lenz was founded in 1978 and Fry has been its winemaker since 1989. His vinting approach is showcased in two tasting flights. The estate wines emphasize balance, fruit, and acid. The complex fruit flavors of the White Label chardonnay, for example, result from picking and fermenting the grapes at different stages of maturity, then blending “to make a fruit salad,’’ as Fry put it. The more expensive premium tasting includes his Old Vines wines, which he crafts in a Burgundian style.

Island wine country - Boston Globe

The owner of a French restaurant advising French clients to eat with their fingers? Etiquette is so hard-wired into the French brain that its well-bred citizens attack chicken wings with bold knife and fork. We are, however, in La Grange à Dîme, a fouée restaurant in the French town of Montreuil-Bellay,, a breed of eatery known by few travelers. And fouée-restaurant fare practically defies cutlery.

Fouée is an ancient bread. History tells us that it was born as a way for bakers to test the heat of their wood ovens: they'd rip off a piece of dough, roll it out and stick it in the oven. Minutes later, out comes a puffed-up bubble of hot crust filled with air. Its closest relative may be the pita. But your standard pita is burlap to the fouée's gossamer.

Nature abhors a vacuum and so does a fouée. You prick it open and fill it with various stuffings, most of them dictated by local tradition, to wit: rillettes (unctuous pork spread called "brown marmalade" by novelist Honoré de Balzac), mogettes (the Vendée's celebrated dried white beans), Loire goat cheese and lightly salted butter.

Here you have the mainstays of the honest-to-God fouée restaurant, a style of eatery pretty much limited to the Saumurois in the western stretch of the Loire Valley. The set menus vary little from one place to another and are usually fleshed out with mushrooms, a meat preparation, salad, dessert and serviceable regional wine.

Fouée: Soul Food à la Française - Wall Street Journal

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Scoop out the seeds from the cucumber and cut it into thin slices. Cut the avocados in half, and brush each with a little lemon juice. Check through the white crab meat and remove any shell. Put the crab meat in a bowl with the herbs, remaining lemon, salt and pepper. Mix gently together, cover and refrigerate.

To make the dressing, whisk the lemon juice into the mayonnaise and stir in the brown crab meat. Season and add a little olive oil to thin the dressing to the consistency of double cream.

To serve, lightly dress the watercress with olive oil and seasoning. Cut each avocado half lengthways into six slices. Place one piece of flat bread on each plate and arrange the cress on top. Scatter the crab and cucumber over and arrange with avocado slices neatly. Pour a little crab dressing on and around the salad and serve the rest separately. Garnish with the lemon wedges.

Crab, avocado, cucumber & watercress salad with dill & maldon salt flat bread ... - Telegraph.co.uk