we talk of this occasionally. Tonight I think I established an excellent
balance of wine quality to food pairing that brought out the best in
both. We had 5 spice duck breast (mostly Ian Hoare's recipe) with stir
fried veggies and a 2013 Russian River Pinot Noir Sonoma county from
Kirkland. The wine at 15 or so dollars wa a steal excellent cherry
bouquet a bit of oak (previous bottles showed more this one I kept to
about 55 degree F and the oak disappeared) wine and duck were just
perfect together. Neither one outshown the other, well maybe the duck's
sauce but hey. We cooked the duck sous vide and the tenderness of the
process really works with the duck as it does not lose any flavor (I did
add a little 5 spice to the duck pre sous vide and I think it integrated
a bit in the cooking.) All in all a 3 star meal at bib gourmand prices