On Saturday, Jean and I decided to smoke a pheasant that we had sitting around, so I duly fired up the smoker and gave it an applewood smoking. With the bird, I decided that a medium-bodied Grenache-based wine would be a good pairing and retrieved from the cellar:
2000 Dom. de L'Espigouette Côtes du Rhône Vieilles Vignes nose: gamey, dark cherries palate: medium-full body, meaty, smoky, kirsch, good acidity
This wine is produced by the Latour family in Vacqueyras and is a consistent QPR winner for us. (It's imported by J et R Imports in Michigan). This was the last bottle of the 2000 in our cellar and it came across as a slightly lighter CdP-lookalike. It went marvelously with the bird and made me wish I had more, especially with the pricetag of $10.95 showing. ;-)
Mark Lipton