Match of the week
Apple tart and orange wine
Apple tart is a pretty forgiving kind of dessert but here's a brilliant new pairing I found at Casanis restaurant in Bath last week.
The owner who comes from Nice makes his own Provençal orange wine and it's a perfect match for the simple apple tart that he serves.
It stands to reason when you think about it. Orange and apple are good bedfellows (it always helps to think of the other ingredients that go with a dish when you're trying to work out a wine pairing). I can imagine other sweet orange-flavoured drinks working well too - though liqueurs like Cointreau and Grand Marnier might be a touch strong.
The only problem is finding an orange wine. You should be able to track one down at top end wine merchants or in department stores such as Selfridges or Harrods but don't get confused with natural 'orange' wines which are by and large dry and wouldn't do the job. (Their colour comes from extended skin contact with white grape skins, not from oranges.)
Or you could make your own. There's a great recipe here from American cookery writer Patricia Wells which I first spotted in her book At Home in Provence and have always intended to make. Maybe now's the time.
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