Lost and Found...

Dirty Talk on Wine

Posted 04/18/2008 at 04:26 AM by Dirk

This is the last entry this week about desserts. (Next week I may be able to get back to what is going on in the vineyards.) I thought you should see something that came out of our tasting group that includes chefs, winemakers, hospitality and even management!

Face it, when Abi said that he was going to make "French Toast", we didn't do back flips or say "stop the presses". Actually, he was too cultured and called it "Pain Perdue". Literally translated, that means "Lost Bread". (Once it is stale it is lost...even if you know where to find it.) True French bread is stale by the next morning but Pain Perdue remains one of the few things I know what to do with, other than feed pigeons (no longer socially acceptable). I guess its short shelf life is part of the reason there are so many boulangeries in France. When we lived in Nuits St Georges (about the same size as St. Helena) they had 11 bakeries while St Helena had one! We ended up with "our" boulangerie which may be thought of as the setting for the French version of Cheers.

Abi's Pain Perdue was delicious!

Abi's Pain Perdue has a familiarity to it. After all, everyone has had French toast. It's just that he has found a twist that makes it perfect for dessert and equally important; it compliments Dolce in a way that is memorable. The look, the texture, and the flavor work perfectly where it would be a crime to leave any of it on your plate.

Larry's latest innovation with Abi's dessert is not for the faint of heart. It is more or less the idea that getting an early start is a good idea. Or when thinking of Dolce...it could be that "waiting for dessert would be a sin".

Larry figured out that a Dolce breakfast can be about as decadent as it gets, and that Pain Perdue would be a perfect part of that "most important meal of the day".

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, Stacey conned Abi into making one for her and ended up doing her impersonation of the Cheshire cat after she ate the whole thing. I think she is voting for it to end up in the cookbook.

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About the Author

Dirk Hampson

Few winemakers realize the opportunity to build a winemaking program from the ground up, living and growing with the vineyards over two decades. Dirk Hampson, director of winemaking and chairman at Far Niente, and sister wineries Dolce and Nickel & Nickel, counts himself among the fortunate. An enology graduate from the University of California, Davis, Hampson honed his craft at some of Europe's greatest properties, and was the first American to apprentice at Bordeaux First Growth Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Hampson returned to the US and was appointed winemaker at Far Niente in 1983.