5th November 2008

October was wonderful here in Alsace with colours to rival New England's, both in the forests and in the vineyards. One of the highlights was a vineyard visit to celebrate my husband's Big Bus-Pass Birthday, with dinner and overnight at the Chambard in Kaysersberg (www.lechambard.fr). The next day we met up with Etienne Hugel in Riquewihr, who took time off from the vendanges to welcome us. (For up-to-date news of the Hugel vendanges - go to http://blog.hugel.com/en/harvest.) Etienne was delighted to share the news of the Big Birthday - '1943? he enquired - 'a great vintage!'

After tasting a whole slew of Hugel jewels in their wonderful wood-panelled parlour on the main street, we prepared to cross over to lunch at the Brendelstub, the bistro bit of Jean-Luc Brendel's collection (1-star restaurant, bistro and fabulous suites), a favourite watering-hole of the Hugel clan (www.brendelstub.com).

Etienne disappeared briefly into the back office -  'just going to pick up a couple of things' - and re-emerged with a mysterious brown paper bag under his arm. Once in the Brendelstub, we settled down to order - tarte flambée of ceps followed by risotto with ceps encore. 'I think the wine will work just fine with both of these', commented Etienne. And out of the bag he produced, with a flourish, a mystery bottle. It was a 1943 Hugel Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives - magic, a deep golden elixir, its spicy Gewurz aromas still holding their head high, and more than a match - as forecast by Etienne - for both the tarte flambée and the risotto. We were spellbound, trying to imagine the scene at harvest time 65 years earlier - Alsace occupied for 4 years, on its knees, villages and towns in ruins (though Riquewihr miraculously escaped), all the young men at the front (most of them, including Etienne's two uncles, incorporated by force into the Wehrmacht) and the whole winemaking operation run by the oldies and the women of the family. They did a fine job.

Back down to earth now with What's Cooking This Month, where you'll find a recipe for a fragrant and delicious Alsace dish called Baeckeoffe, just right for these early winter days. Travels & Tastings has the full text of my review (published in last weekend's FT) of Restaurant Bareiss in the northern Black Forest, which this time last year was awarded its third Michelin star.

As always, in the Recipe Archive you'll find recipes that appeared earlier on the site and in the Travels and Tastings Archive you'll find a selection of my published articles on food, wine and travel.

And if you're heading for one of France's wine-growing regions during the vendanges - Alsace maybe - visit www.winetravelguides.com, a practical online guide to France's vineyards which is a mine of info on the top growers in each of the main wine-growing regions, plus where to stay and where to eat - look for my sections on Alsace.

Have fun - come back soon!

PS: those tasty figs in the banner are by artist Sara Studd. Go to Sara's blog to see more of her work.