2004 Costa de Oro Estate pinot noir, Santa Maria Valley, Gold Coast Vineyard, Alc14.2%

Yeah, yeah, but this was dinner as research, and there was some venison, roast potatoes and roast parsnip on the same plate. Besides it depends on how the bunny is cooked. This time of year I get a hankering for rabbit, it is mid January and there's not much game around the mountains, apart from the odd bobcat or muster of peacocks. I like my rabbit dredged through seasoned flour, deep fried in grapeseed oil(what else?) then roasted to golden brown. Unlike turkey, there is no white and dark meat, only white and had I made a killer roast a few years back with Whitcraft's pinot and swordfish steaks. What the hell, I figured how bad could it be, besides, it was a night for a challenge and this seemed to have the element of escapism after spending a fruitful morning gathering some chanterelles. Like our vids, first impressions last and my first impression was positive. Rabbit cooked to perfection had that lighter than chicken delicacy, the pinot destroyed all remnants, then for some veggies, pinot tasted sweeter, more bunny, flavours enrichened, pinot tempered, the french oak barrel came to its defense but by then the venison stepped up from the plate. More pinot, more bunny, yep, bunny is decidedly tastier, so too the '04, so too the venison.

As an aside 2004 was a strange year with earlier than normal harvests all round, I'm left to wonder if there is a longer maceration and shorter than 10 months barrel time pinot kicking around. Dinner is work and thoughts do stray.

January 22 2006

Cheers