We picked these up in the Willamette Valley several years ago for a mere $20 each at the local Safeway. We had already tasted the wine and knew it to be an unusually smokey pinot with a green olive bent--rather like pinot made in a Rhone style. Which is probably why, classic though it wasn't we liked it enough to buy a few to bring home. So yesterday we smoked a rack of baby backs with a curry-flavored dry rub, no sauce, and for a side dish we added to the smoker a foil envelope of broken small red potatoes and chopped Luques green olives drizzled with olive and truffle oils. Our starter was a plate of peeled cucumber rounds and halved cherry tomatoes simply dressed with just black lava salt. So when I went to the cellar to choose a wine, I was heading straight for the Rhone section but darn if I couldn't hear that Panther Creek calling, "Choose me!"--typically I wouldn't have been anywhere near that corner. Pinot with barbecue? Not my idea of a good pairing.
The wine has evolved quite nicely. The smoke and green olive elements I remember were there, and the black plum fruit is accented with dried thyme and a sweet earthiness not unlike raw yam. The acid and tannins are where they should be for a wine this age, and I don't see it fading any time soon. So pretty good by itself if highly atypical, but with the food it was one of those "oh maaaan" kind of wine/food matches. I would be happy to eat the entire meal again tonight.