Inspired by JimCross' retrospective, I tried last night w/ my sauteed duck breast in tart cherry reduction:
1. AndrewMurrayVnyds Esperance SBCnty (EG; 13.5%) 1994: Med.dark color w/ some browning; some bretty/horsecollar/leathery some pencilly/oak/smoky biit boysenberry/plummy/Mourv slight spicy/ozone lightly perfumed attractive/interesting nose; soft rather pencilly/oak/smoky rather bretty/horsecollar light plummy/boysenberry/Mourv slight metallic/tannic/dried out flavor; some plummy/Mourv rather dried out/tannic/astringent pencilly/oak finish; noticible brett but tolerable; fruit speaks mostly of Mourvedre; still alive but clinging on for dear life.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Esperance was young Andrew's GSM blend. It spoke to me mostly of Mourvedre. I held little hope for this wine when I pulled it, but my first reaction when I opened it was "It's still alive". But it went out w/ a blaze of glory. I've never seen a wine crash so fast in the decanter. By an hour later when my duck was finished; the wine had turned a pretty murky brown, lost nearly all that plummy fruit, spoke mostly of toasty oak, and was pretty dried out & tired on the palate. But Andrew got the CdP character right....the brett stayed right there thru the wines fast demise.
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2. One of my favorite simple meals is sauteed duck breast. Can't beat the fat from a duck. But I've been a bit puzzled over the yrs. Our SantaFe grocers almost always have duck breasts available...but what happens to the rest of the body parts?? I never see the duck legs that I love. Have they bred ducks who have no legs and they have to pole themselves around the barnyard in these little carts? Do the PETA folks know about this development? And where are their necks? Or are their tiny heads just a small appendage atop these big breasts. Curious minds and all that.
Tom