Free-Spirited Aperitifs
L’Apero les Trois delivers much-needed joie de vivre
In this new normal, where home is work and work is home, the line between on-time and off-time has blurred unsettlingly, requiring near-herculean effort to entirely unplug and unwind.
It should come as little surprise that Georgeanne Brennan, the James Beard Award—winning author of many cookbooks as well as books about living in the “French-style” and longtime contributor to Edible Marin & Wine Country, has the perfect antidote.
Brennan’s newest delicious venture, L’Apero les Trois, is a line of fruit-based lower-alcohol spirits known as aperitifs that are handcrafted in Winters, California, where Brennan has resided for decades when she is not living and teaching cooking classes at her home in France. In France, drinking aperitifs before dinner (and oftentimes lunch) is a way of life. The author and culinarian is hoping to instill this cherished French custom here in Northern California.
“We are moving from a period of shut down and shut in, and are like newborns going back into the world again,’’ Brennan says about the pandemic’s toll. “I hope the aperitifs provide a contribution to daily life to get people to enjoy this concept of a pause—to slow down a little.”
Aperitif comes from the Latin aperi, which means “to open,” as in one’s palate. A useful attribute before meals. They are always served chilled, often with a few ice cubes in the glass, sometimes topped off with sparkling wine, or even sparkling water to make them even lighter.
The L’Apero les Trois line debuted in April with six different fruit- and nut-infused flavors, all chosen specifically for their venerable agricultural heritage in rural Yolo County: Meyer Lemon, Rosemary Orange, Black Mission Fig, Homestead Quince, Green Walnut and Blenheim Apricot. A lot of the fruits and nuts used in production were picked from Brennan’s own 10-acre spread, with the rest from nearby farms.
L’Apero is French slang for “aperitifs,’’ while Trois refers not only to the three main components highlighted in each flavor—a seasonal fruit, spirit and wine—but also to the founders: three women.
The trio is comprised of Brennan, 78, who came up with the aperitif idea; Corinne Martinez, 60, co-owner and president of Berryessa Gap Vineyards, whose state winery license allows the aperitifs to be produced at the winery and sold legally; and Nicole Salengo, 41, Berryessa Gap’s winemaker, who produces the aperitifs alongside Brennan.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the tech and wine industries, where there are not a lot of women,” says Martinez, a tech entrepreneur who recently retired after 20 years at Microsoft. “This feels so good to have three generations of women who have, in their own right, their own successes, expertise and experiences. It’s very rewarding to show what’s possible, and that we can do this collectively by helping each other.”
Brennan has been making her own aperitifs for decades, and even authored the aptly named 1997 cookbook Aperitif, after falling for them on her first visits to France while in her 20s. She and long-time friend Salengo had often talked about creating a product that would highlight aspects of Winters’s agrarian bounty. They started experimenting with small batches of aperitifs macerated in Mason jars. When they asked Martinez to try them, she was instantly smitten. So much so that she joined the partnership, offering up her business acumen as well as a historic brick building she owned in downtown Winters, now the L’Apero les Trois tasting room.
The first variety perfected was the Blenheim Apricot, which is especially meaningful to Martinez, who remembers cutting and packing these richly perfumed apricots that her father grew in his orchard in Winters.
The initial batch of all six varieties, a total of 400 cases, was produced in 2021, then bottled purposefully on Valentine’s Day, Salengo says, to ensure extra love went into every bottle.
All the work was done by hand, including the mallet-cracking of 150 pounds of green walnuts and the zesting of 400 pounds of oranges. Each aperitif’s recipe varies, fine-tuned to accentuate the freshness of each primary ingredient with no over-ripened cloyingness. The main fruit or nut was paired with complementary ingredients, such as fresh thyme and Meyer lemon in the Black Mission Fig aperitif, then combined with a particular Berryessa Gap wine such as its Zinfandel or Chardonnay, as well as a neutral brandy distilled from the winery’s rose with help from Patio29 Spirits Co., also in Winters. Each mixture macerated anywhere from a few days to as long as six months before being strained.
At 15.5% to 16.5% ABV, the aperitifs contain minimal added sugar, but abundant fruit, as much as 1.2 pounds per bottle for the Meyer Lemon variety.
The aperitifs are sold in 750ml bottles at Berryessa Gap’s tasting room in downtown Winters, as well as at L’Apero les Trois Aperitifs’ own tasting room across the street, which is done up in 1930s French bistro—style married with rustic farmhouse chic, complete with a baby grand player piano. At the L’Apero tasting room, the aperitifs are available by the glass or as a six-glass sampler, along with appetizers such as green olive tapenade, Skyhill Farms goat cheese with Cowgirl Creamery crackers and baked-to- order gougeres from Lafayette’s Reve Bistro. The tasting room also plans to host six four-course dinners a year for wine club members, each celebrating the fruit of the season.
Once opened, the aperitifs keep for months in the refrigerator. Besides sipping, the aperitifs can be used in cooking. Brennan likes to add a splash of the Meyer Lemon to finish a pasta sauce or the Black Mission Fig to a pan sauce for fig-and-bread-stuffed quail.
“There are no rules here. You can be as creative as you want with the aperitifs,” says Salengo. “I hope they stimulate the senses and, more than anything, make people feel like they’re in a beautiful orchard.”
