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
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