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Peaches and cream with wine

At last my food mind is getting into gear again for 2007 and the, by now, all-important seasonal calendar for 2008. January 2008 will most certainly kick off with a beautiful peach soup. Inspired by 28cooks' wonderful recipe I have started collecting recipes from all over to check out flavour combinations, textures and aromas. The all-important question whether it should be a savoury or entirely sweet soup can only be decided after I have tested a lot more, but I have come to the following preliminary but still tentative conclusions (is that an oxymoron or not: a "tentative conclusion"?): 1. Firm conclusion - only the very best, most flavourful and fragrant peaches, at the perfect point of ripeness, nothing unripe or overripe about them, make the effort worthwhile. Even bruises should be avoided (unlike bananas for banana bread) because of the slight taint of fermentation they bring into the flavour. I have used several varieties by now, and it really doesn't matter if they are clingstones, nectarines, white- or yellow-fleshed, heirloom or modern-day, as long as they are the best specimens of your favourite peach. If you can be sure that they have been organically grown, a brief rinse is usually preparation enough, especially if the fruit is going to be cooked. For fresh uncooked peach soup, you should seriously consider whether you want to peel or not to peel. 2. Firm conclusion: one should be very careful with additional fruit juices (e.g. pineapple, orange, etc) to make sure that they merely enhance the peachiness and don't turn the soup into a glorified fruit juice cocktail rather than a celebration of the peach. 3. Tentative conclusion: for a sophisticated flavour that transcends that of a simply delicious fruit puree, you need to add wine or some alcoholic flavour or another. Not just any old wine, and I dont think a seriously dry French one either, but a delicately fruity white wine or a good rose, preferably of the muscat variety, a Riesling or a Bukettraube or Gewurztraminer. Or a discreet splash of rum for a spicy undertone, ouzo or Pernod for a hint of anise, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec to bring in a citrus note and so forth and so forth. 4. Many fruit soups use cornstarch or arrowroot or potato starch as a thickener, and although I havent tried any of these recipes yet, I would probably use arrowroot for its delicate and unobtrusive flavour (it is, though, rather difficult to come by in this remote corner of the globe). I imagine that a starchy thickener plays almost the same role as cream would in this sort of soup - to provide a certain smoothness and mellowness of texture that fruit and juice or fruit and stock or fruit and wine on their own would never achieve. Cream also provides a new flavour element which places it clearly out of any category of simple fruit juice - and from my experience till now, fresh cream and, strangely enough, yoghurt are merely bland, whereas sour cream adds a more complex richness of flavour. Whatever else, a good chilled peach soup is one of the most delicious ways of celebrating summer's bounty here at the southern tip of Africa.