"'You don't make skin-fermented sauvignon blanc if you have a mortgage, ' Abe Schoener told me earlier this year, " says Colman.

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Not surprisingly, he said it was a Chenin Blanc from his native Loire Valley, but he couldn't remember the maker or the vintage.

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"We don't do anything different, as Le Manoir is already a very romantic place, " Mr. Blanc says.

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