Instructions: A friend in France serves this wine as an aperitif in win- ter. It is very warming on a cold night and carries the scent of the summer prune plum.

Rinse and carefully dry plums. Put in a clean glass jar and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar and the Cognac. Cover and let the mixture stand for 5 days in a cool, dark place, turning the jar occasionally. At the end of the 5 days, add wine. Cover and let stand another 5 days, turning occasionally.

Remove fruit from the jar and crush it to extract all the juice. Discard pits and skin. Return juice and pulp to wine mixture and filter it into bottles. (A coffee filter or doubled cheesecloth in a funnel works quite well.) Cork the bottles and store in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator.

Makes two 750-milliliter bottles.

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