Behind The Recipe: Spiced Orange Wine

When I graduated from college, I got a Watson fellowship—a grant that lets you do anything you want, in any country you want—which took me to France. That opened up a world to me, at the age of 20, that I could never have dreamed of: learning from Richard Olney, and even living for a period with Simone Beck. But something else, something seemingly less significant than the time I spent with those great masters, also made a big impression on me: A family friend, France Couturier, had a sister who lived on a rose farm in Solliès Pont, in Provence; I went to spend Christmas with them on the farm, and it was there that I tasted orange wine for the first time.

Just the idea of a vermouth-like aperitif was something new to me, and it was a wonderful flavor—one that really captured the festive spirit of that holiday. I now associate orange with Provence: Beyond just the wine, a lot of the region’s dishes are made with orange peels; they show up very often with lamb, or in red wine stews like Provençal daubes.

When I started researching a way to recreate the delicious orange wine of my memory for our Provençal menu in the March issue, I encountered many recipes that keep the peels separate, literally suspending them over the alcohol to infuse it with their oils. But I liked the idea of putting the wine together with the peels. To me, they look like paintbrush strokes in the bottle, capturing swipes of that amazing Provençal sunlight. I added some Grand Marnier to make the flavor a little more intense. And the bay leaves have a resinous quality that always transports me back to the South of France—Simone Beck had bay leaf hedges right outside her front door, and when you walked past them, just your leg brushing up against them would release their aroma. In this aperitif, they provide a base note that gives the drink another dimension.

It may seem completely foreign to doctor up a wine in this country, but it’s a tradition I’ve adopted. It’s very celebratory, with a generosity somewhat like when a host puts fresh flowers in a guest’s room. It’s making something specifically to share with guests—and I think that makes you a really wonderful host.