Pommeau

In all wine-making districts of France, when the vendange (wine harvest) comes round everyone makes ratafia. The purple juice flowing from the presses is used to fill a bottle three-quarters full, and then brandy or marc - the rougher, hard liquor distilled from the debris of grape-pressing - is added to inhibit fermentation. The resulting ratafia or pineau can be kept indefinitely for use as an aperitif or in cooking.

Several years ago now, bright people in the Charentes began to p