INGREDIENTS

1 whole duck
3 oranges
1T orange zest grated
3T butter
Spring rosemary
Half an onion
1c Semillon
1/2c brown sugar
2 c bread crumbs
1/2c kosher salt
1/2 gal. water

PROCEDURE:

Make brine by dissolving sugar and salt in water. Add juice of one orange to solution and pour over duck to submerge. Chill 24 hours. Remove duck from brine. Stuff orange, onion & rosemary into cavity. Smoke with soaked wood chips over low heat for two to three hours. Remove duck to platter. Make sauce by reducing wine by 50% over medium heat in non-reactive saucepan. Add zest, juice of oranges and degreased drippings from duck on platter. Reduce until thickened slightly. Turn off heat. Stir in butter and season with salt & pepper to taste. Pour sauce over carved-up duck with your favorite sides and a glass of Sémillon. A good choice is Fenestra or LVC, both from the Livermore Valley.

A Wine for the Ages

Flashy and steely in youth, you may find this wine on a typical summer picnic. A grassy herbaceous bouquet of tropical fruits, & orange blossoms mmm… it does go well with the chicken!

But this is no ordinary white wine. Usually early to ripen, when left on the vine to be kissed by the noble rot, a more mature star is born.

Sémillon has the legendary ability to age gracefully and beautifully in the midst of oak, transforming itself in ten or twenty years to a smooth, silky, honey like sip while

retaining its acidity and citrus character, thus setting the bar for dessert wines.

But as our wine ages, we age too! Now twenty years after the picnic, were in front of a fire on a cold winter’s night sipping Sauternes with old friends, ahh… tropical citrus vanilla nuttiness. You’ve come a long way baby!

In its youth, Sémillon is an excellent accompaniment to Smoked Duck a la Orange.

--Ty Turner, Garre Winery, Livermore, California