QUIVIRA 1998: $21 Ripe berry, chocolate and oak flavors; smooth and elegant.
MIGUEL TORRES, MANSO DE VELASCO, RESERVA, CURICÓ DISTRICT 1997: $33 Smooth and rich; berry, chocolate, herb and cedar flavors.
A €22 three-course weekend menu might include goat's milk panna cotta with thyme and honey, coriander rice cakes with smoked cauliflower cream, and wild berry chocolate cake.
Cherry berry chocolate strawberry cake.
There's a new spread in town, a confection combining the ripest berries, chocolate and chunks of toasted almond: a crazy riff on Nutella, inspired by a recipe from "Mes Confitures" by Christine Ferber.
WHAT WE LIKE Lamb chops, Chilean sea bass, quail, agnolotti, sea scallops, heads-on shrimp, lobster with corn, ribbon fries, spaetzle, Key lime tart, mixed berries, chocolate chip cookies.
Dessert time brought us a cool, satiny, palate-refreshing panna cotta (an Italian custard-like pudding), decorated with fresh berries; chocolate marquise (two small shingles of rich chocolate in a creme anglaise adorned with fresh raspberries); and a plate of biscotti, cookies and truffles, all appealing finales.
Placentas can also be eaten in a kind of smoothie, by putting them "in a blender, with yogurt, ice cream, berries, chocolate, ginger.
For example: frozen berries, chocolate, honeycomb, nuts, chocolate sauce, fruit, cookie crumbs and whatever else you like.
CEUSO, CUSTERA, 1997: $30 Dark purple; flavors of tobacco, berry and chocolate.
JO~AO PORTUGAL RAMOS, VILA SANTA, ALENTEJANO 1999: $26 Spicy aromas; complex berry and chocolate flavors.
