NAME:       GERARD BERNARD

AGE:        55

PROFESSION: RETIRED TRAIN ENGINEER

LANGUAGE:   FRENCH

HOME:       VILLERS-LES-NANCY, FRANCE
(POPULATION: 16,000)

HARDINESS
ZONE:   7 

LOISIRS:    PAINTING, FISHING


KITCHEN GARDENER PROFILE
 

Gérard Bernard in his garden
Every gardener is known for something.  For one, it might be his plump and juicy tomatoes, for another her aromatic herbs.  In the case of Frenchman Gérard Bernard, it's not what comes from his garden but what he does with it. Gérard takes humble extras of the fruit world - currants, cherries, pears, plums - and turns them into stars.  Gérard, you see, is a master of a little-known artform: small-scale, artisinal fruit wines and liqueurs. Let's see how he earned his reputation. 


KGI: Why do you make your own fruit wines?
GB:  It's each person prerogative to like or dislike jams and jellies.  I love certain types, but there are others that make my hair stand on end (which is saying a lot seeing that I'm bald). One type I can live without is red currant jam. 
GERARD'S RED CURRANT WINE RECIPE

1) Ask your wife nicely to pick the currants (she was going to do it anyway for her preserves, right?)
2) Wash them and send them through a wine press or juicer.
3) Place the juice in a large food-grade  carboy (glass or plastic)along with water and sugar using the following proportions: 1 liter of juice, 1 kilo of sugar, 2 liters of water. 
4) Stir the mixture regularly (once a day at the beginning)using a long plastic or wooden stick. Fill the carboy up close to the rim in order to have easy access to the foam that will form once the fermentation starts. Remove this foam as it appears. You may top off the mixture with some extra sugar water to compensate for the lost liquid.  Cover the carboy with a breathable material and wait for the end of the year. 
5) At the end of December or beginning of January, pick a clear, sunny day for bottling. Use heavy, champagne-style bottles that have been thoroughly washed out and dried.  Attach a plastic tube to your long stick in such a way that is one centimeter from the end. Place the stick and the attached tube into the carboy and beginning siphoning the liquid into the bottles. The one centimeter difference between the stick and the tube will insure that the sediment stays at the bottom of your carboy. Avoid moving your carboy around during or prior to the bottling process as this stir up the sediment.
6) Cork the bottles and cover with champagne-style wire hoods to keep the corks in place. 
7) Affix your label and store upright in a cool, shaded area.
8) Drink with appreciation and moderation.
But how can you prevent your wife from making red currant preserves when your garden is exploding with red currants (he explains that currant bushes serve as an edible hedge separating his garden from his yard and his yard from his neighbor's).  When I first heard talk of making wine from  currants many years ago, I said to myself "ah-ha, therein lies the solution". 

KGI: How long have you been doing this?
GB: For more than 20 years now.  I still have 2 bottles from 1982 in storage for a special occasion.  And I've even taken to harvesting the currants from other people's yards (with their permission, bien sûr) so that I can increase my production and prevent them from going to waste. One of my greatest pleasures in life is offering bottles to close friends and family who await each new vintage with great anticipation, so don't bother asking whether it's good. 

KGI: So how and when do you drink your wines?
GB: First of all, the older the better.  I find that that they're at their best served "en apéritif", ie. as a before dinner drink. We usually serve it with hors d'oeuvres because the alcohol level is somewhat stronger than a normal table wine and will quickly make heads spin on an empty stomach.

Just yesterday, we had friends over for dinner and started off with a glass of red currant wine, followed by a meal built around ingredients from the garden and local farms. I can't tell you just how pleased and amazed people are to sit down to truly local and handcrafted meal, especially those that have got caught up in the routine of eating faceless, uninspired food from the large supermarkets. 
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