a red for grilled chicken and left over risotto

easy sounding meal and one which offers a lot of wine possibilities. this meal is generally white, but i brined the chicken in red wine and olive oil with a dash of soy sauce which did kick it up a bit. i had thought of using a wonderful white burgundy with this and keep with my personal wine theme of the week but i decided to go for something i think is a real bargain and is consistently good. just as a mention, the chelsea wine cellars (alba winery) 2007 syrah would have worked wonderfully with this meal after decanting and an hour of air; it is a very nice syrah but has an odd kind of finish, which dissipates with exposure to air and was gone when i tasted this on day 2 after opening. i have digressed and will write more about this wine another time.

as is my habit, i have picked a smaller production wine- probably less than 5000 cases per year and only part of that is imported into the states. the wine is produced by one of the stars of chateauneuf du pape, whose wines always score highly but unfortunately have a price consistent with those scores. but she has a second endeavor.

this is a grenache based wine blended with syrah, carignan, and a small mix of whatever it takes to achieve proper balance. this is southern rhone, with grapes sourced from a variety of locations. my personal feeling that it is wonderful to taste the terrior of a single tiny parcel of land, but if the yield is only 50 cases most of us will never get to experience it. blends such as this require quality grapes as well as quality wine making and blending.

this wine is dark purple and translucent. it is unfined and unfiltered. it opens with an herbaceous nose, which is almost grassy. this changes with decanting and presents smoke and fruit with a hint of herbs. the taste is smoke, tar, and spicy red fruit consistent with a backbone of grenache. it finishes with soft and well balanced tannins. when tasted on the second day it does show some oxidation, i think this vintage is done. i have tasted the subsequent 2 vintages and both are consistent with this one.

the wine is "plan pegau selectionne par laurence feraud 2005." feraud's primary wine is domaine du pegau in chateauneuf du pape. this wine does not and is not meant to match the wines of the domaine, but it certainly is perfect to drink while waiting for the special occasion to serve those wines. i strongly recommend this wine as it should be consistent over the years. it is well made and certainly is not some kind of a large volume afterthought. this is the kind of wine which for which this blog was intended.