Ten Vineyard Lunches

This first volume in a series of menu cookbooks delivers both a cookbook and a crash course on great French wines. Though presenting each menu and its wines studiously by region (Provence, Alsace, Burgundy, etc.), cookbook author and wine expert Olney hopes that ``readers will not take the formula too seriously; the raison d'etre of the table, after all, is to have a good time.'' Most recipes are fairly simple and require only basic competence in the kitchen, but food takes second place to drinkwhich, considering the price you'll have to pay to possess some of these bottles, is only to be expected. (It may take a superb vintage to make Olney's oxtail and pig's ear stew or pigs' trotters palatable.) The writer also explains how vintages are created and cared for, while telling how he encountered particular wines and why they complement menus. If, like some imbibers, you think any wine tastes just fine by the third glass, then the ins and outs of this may prove daunting. But for readers who want to fathom the ways of fine vintages, while learning some interesting food and wine combinations, Olney's book is an excellent place to start. (Nov.)