An Old Sauterne and a New Apple Pie

During dessert last night at Peter and Luis’, Luis treated us to a 1949 Calvet Sauterne, an unexpected compliment to my apple pie and vanilla ice cream. I’ve never had a dessert wine so old, and it was a completely new sensual experience. Its color was a golden amber, the bouquet of honey and flowers, and the taste was only slightly sweet but intensely fragrant, like honeysuckle and daphne, fresh and smooth. It was like stepping into another time, running slowly through fields of flowers at sunset.

Peter and Luis used to be major arts and crafts queens, but over the past few years have completely reinvented themselves as collectors of what they call “chinese federal,” which includes a Tang dynasty ceramic horse, numerous Ming, Song, and Qing objets, a turkey chair, tonka paintings, etc… It’s like going to Auntie Mame’s house–and they’re just as fabulous!

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