Betsy knows I love pheasant, and picked up a nice one at Fairway. She used a recipe from the recent Gourmet magazine cookbook, with the pheasant braised and served with brown rice and red cabbage. I think of pheasant as a good foil for aged red Bordeaux or Burgundy, but cabbage worried me. I quizzed some folks, decided on aged Riesling. Pondered some Austrians, but decided to go with a little sweetness, so chose the 1994 Zilliken "Saarburger Rausch" Riesling Kabinett ( Mosel Saar Ruwer). It did quite well with the dish (through it turned out the cabbage is mixed with bacon and brown rice, a red would have been fine, the cabbage is an accent, not dominant). Good acidity, pleasant peach and lime fruit is in the background, more notable are the slatey mineral notes. There's also some light petrol. Lighter styled, "true" Kabinett, nice wine, should have bought more. B+
The recipe included some white wine, Betsy had opened a very inexpensive one, the NV (though seal indicates 2007 bottling) Gazela Vinho Verde. A little petillance, light, saline, citrus fruit. Not a wine I'd seek out, but at $6 an okay choice for a sipper on a hot day, or to add some acidity to a dish. B-
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.