| |
|
|
Cooking in Provence
For several weeks each year Patricia and Walter Wells open their 18th-century Provençal  home for personalized cooking classes to a small number of participants eager to share in the food, wine, and culture of one of France’s most blessed regions. Students cook with herbs, salads and vegetables from the garden, grapes from the vineyard, olives from the groves, sip homemade aperitifs from the orchards, and prepare roast meat and poultry in the wood oven fired with vine clippings from the vineyard. The house wine is Clos Chanteduc, the fruity, fragrant red Côtes-du-Rhône from the property. The five-day program includes hands-on cooking sessions led by Patricia and Walter, as well as their guided visits to markets, vineyards, shops, and local restaurants.
Each day’s program offers something different: The prepared menus shared around the farmhouse table, the insider’s guide to the regional production of olives, oil, and cheese, and tastings from the rich selection of local wines, including the famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the heady and varied Vacqueyras and Gigondas, as well as the huge variety of top quality Côtes-du-Rhône. All instruction is in English. Recipes are geared to the home cook. Guests are supplied with aprons as well as detailed recipe booklets that are theirs to keep.
 The class is limited to 12 participants. The week begins with dinner on Sunday night and ends after lunch on Friday. The fee is $5,000 and includes a market visit, all tastings and transportation for local visits. It includes a welcome dinner on Sunday; a Monday class and lunch; a Tuesday class and lunch; on Wednesday a wine tasting and restaurant lunch; a Thursday class and lunch; and a Friday class and lunch. From Monday on, the afternoons and evenings are free for students to explore on their own. The fee does not include lodging. (A list of recommended hotels is sent to students when they enroll.)
|
