2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah

Do you ever have one of those dinners where everything comes together just right? The food is perfect, the wine is firing on all cylinders and the marriage of the food and wine is greater than the sum of its parts? Well, I got one of those tonight. Simply divine in every sense of the word. Dinner was some pheasant breast my wife's boss just shot in Iowa that I wrapped in bacon and smoked over cherry and apple wood. While the pheasant was smoking, I made a simple risotto that, when finished, I stirred in some diced beets (from our garden) that I had roasted last night. The flavors were as delicious as the risotto's color was shocking!

With dinner we enjoyed the last of our six bottles of 2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Winery Petite Sirah, Mendocino County. We've always enjoyed this wine, but tonight's bottle was by far its best showing. It had all the earthiness, chalkiness and dry cocoa flavors of the previous bottles, but the roasted meat and sweet blackberry seemed even more generous than I remember. The color is still amazingly youthful and the tannins are still fierce. But I love it at this stage and wouldn't dream of keeping it beyond the fruit's life. Once again, the 14.7% alcohol is well hidden and there is no trace of oak. Finishes with a really pretty note of dry cinnamon.