Word: frenchness
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...global audience). Neill, who has more than 60 movie credits under his belt and who recently appeared on TV as Cardinal Wolsey in Showtime's The Tudors, leads something of a double life. Back in his native New Zealand, this son of three generations of importers of French vintages planted his first five acres (two hectares) of grapes in 1993. Neill has poured heart and soul not only into such successes as The Piano and the Jurassic Park movies but also into the alluvial-schist soil of the South Island of New Zealand, where his great-grandfather settled...
Worldwide, Pinot Noir's uniqueness is that it seems to carry in the most pronounced way the taste of the land from which it hails. (The French refer to this as the goût de terroir.) "Pinot from here does seem to reflect the mystery of this place," says Neill, whose merchant great-grandfather arrived during Otago's gold rush and grew wealthy from selling supplies, including alcohol, to miners. "So your family have been peddling hooch around here for 150 years," jokes Peren, who hails from such quintessentially Kiwi stock--as New Zealanders would call it--that his grandfather...
...Sauvignon Blancs of the Marlborough region farther to the north--including Cloudy Bay, now owned by French luxury group Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton--that really put New Zealand wines on the map. Yet plenty of wine connoisseurs remained skeptical about Central Otago Pinot Noir. Neill makes sure to credit his mentors: the late Rolfe Mills of Rippon winery, who started to plant in 1976, and Alan Brady, who today co-helms a two-man boutique winery called Mount Edward. "It's a small region, and we cooperate with each other," says Neill. "Everyone helps everyone else and pools their...
...actually never been easier to make your own wine, often from the comfort of your nonvineyard home. Today's garagistes (French for the enthusiasts who create vintages in, well, garages) have upscale equipment and packaged kits to help them make their wines. Wineshops and vineyards are offering blending seminars, tutored tastings of grape varietals where you can create your own blend and take home a bottle of the mix. But for those who want the full winemaking experience, Crushpad, a San Francisco urban winery, allows clients to create a custom wine, from vine to uncorking, without having to move...
...Salt is the most important seasoning ingredient there is," says Thomas Keller, owner and chef of swanky eateries Per Se in New York City and French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. Keller offers diners nine varieties--including an ancient Jurassic salt extracted from a Montana copper mine and the jet black Molokai salt, which gets its color from volcanic ash and pairs well with foie gras. He even tops his chocolate caramel dessert with fleur de sel from Brittany...