Château Beausejour Bordeaux 2006, Duck Brest with Berries and Necterine

Château Beausejour Bordeaux 2006; Trader Joes, $9.49; October 2008.

When first opened it was very tight, as closed as I have tasted, but it opened up very nicely. It kept opening up over the next hour. The wine was open at least 40 minutes before we were ready to begin eating.

The two course dinner consisted of duck breast and roasted squash found at Wegman’s. The duck was first slowly cooked with the skin side down to cook out the fat (which has many uses!) and crisped up the skin. Brigette had scored the skin side and seasoned it before placing it skin side down in the pan. It is important to keep some of the fat on the meat, since duck fat adds significantly to the taste. The sauce consisted of duck fat, berries (frozen, unfortunately), shallots, garlic, Thai chili (everything needs Thai chili, Brigette says), and a fresh necterine. The sauce was cooked down until syrup. The duck was put back in and cooked until medium rare.

There was no sign indicating which the squash we selected. We are just learning about squash. We cut it mostly in half, sprinkled it with olive oil and seasoning and roasted it, probably a little long. The squash proved to be the real surprise. It was creamy, buttery, and had a delicate, sweet taste.

The Bordeaux was a little tart with the squash, underscoring the squash’s sweetness. The wine and squash did not clash so much as to add a tang to the meal. With the duck the wine was a good balance, and as the meal progressed, as we ate more, it became more and more mellow and blended with the duck and sauce. Duck is fairly meaty and not delicate. It does well with a solid red. It was odd, the duck’s sauce was sweeter than the squash, but the wine did not seem as tart with it. As I suggested elsewhere, we tried the wine with each part of the meal separately. As cheap as it was, being Bordeaux, it was complex enough to be a fine companion with this wonderful meal.