Last night, I made use of a duck that had been sitting in the fridge by cooking caneton aux navets (braised duck with turnips), a wintertime favorite in these parts, and opened up a bottle that I suspected would go well with the dish:
2002 C&P Breton Bourgueil "Clos Senechal" (11.7% ABV) nose: pencil lead, dark fruit, smoke, tobacco palate: medium body, rich, smoky fruit, minerals, clean finishWhat a match with the duck! In the presence of the food, the fruit of the wine was brought to the fore without diminishing the herbaceous quality and the smoky, roasted notes. Without question, this is the finest Loire Cab Franc I have yet tried. It manages a fine dance between the taut, herbal character I expect from the Loire with the smoky, roasted character I usually get from St. Emilion. It went down way too easy and made me wish I'd bought a case of it. Although delicious now, I have few doubts that it will continue to improve for years yet to come.
Mark Lipton