Montesquieu at the table

Under the Ancien Régime, meals were not served as "starter-main course-dessert" but in successive services: the table was covered with several savory and sweet dishes placed together (soups, roasts, entrees), then the cloth was cleared for the "dessert" of fruits, preserves, and sweets. At La Brède, in the home of a président à mortier, specialties of the Bordeaux region were added and, notably, wines from his own vineyards, which Montesquieu cultivated and sold as far as England.

Montesquieu was not only a thinker: he was a winemaker and shrewd merchant, careful about the price of his Graves wine. The vine irrigated his table as much as his fortune — it appears in the cooking of meats, Garonne fish, and candied fruits. It is the signature ingredient that connects the philosopher to his land.