The most successful of a number of experiments purposed to rescue the great wines of Sauternes from the dessert quarantine; the association is of the happiest, but the Sauternes’ rich caress increases the difficulty of choosing a succeeding wine. If you prefer not to begin a meal with a Sauternes, a white wine with a certain roundness and depth of fruit is, nonetheless, indicated—one of the Côte de Beaune growths or perhaps the usually impossible-to-place Gewürztraminer (above all, oyster wines of the “bone-dry, flinty” category should be avoided).

French friends find the recipe bizarre, but all who have tasted it have been delighted by the clean, clear, surprising combination of flavors and fragrance. It is a refreshing summer day hors d’oeuvre. The only pity is that figs, even more than most fruit, suffer from being picked unripe; the fragility of the tree-ripened product precludes its commercialization.