I continued my sweep of fast food restaurants last night with a short queue in the drive thru of Burger King, ordering the signature Whopper that would be partnered with a bottle of wine. I was looking forward to the wine more than the burger because, as you know, when I have fast food I am pretty loyal to the smiling star. With that said I was looking forward to the culinary excursion because it had been more than half a decade since last I ate a Whopper.

I cruised over to my friend’s apartment after work, wielding a bottle of 2009 Château de Ségriès Lirac Rouge Cuvée Réservée ($17). The label was impressive, decreeing a royal tone and the Rhône blend made use of the usual suspects: 50% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Cinsault and equal parts of Mouvèdre and Carignan to round it out. I opened it as soon as I made it in the kitchen. We let the wine breath while we were off to get the food.

A short jaunt through the valley and we arrived at the colubrine driveway, ordering our Whoppers window side for strictly to-go purposes. The prices seemed steep at $3.50 per sandwich—and I didn’t remember the Famous Star costing that much—but we happily paid the toll. When the money exchanged hands and we had our goods, we reversed our directions, lining it up for my friend’s place to catch the waning moments of a Lakers game.

I set up the burger photo shoot before getting into the sandwich and was surprised by the immaculate presentation. By far it was the best I had seen for a fast food place; preserved in box and nestled tightly in BK paper, a picture-perfect burger provided a great few shots. I was excited because I had never been disappointed in the past with Burger King and it was looking pretty!

We portioned the Lirac Rouge and perched closer to the glass to get some of the perfume. On the nose it smelled of black cherry, blueberries, black pepper, and garigue (aromatic herbs like Lavender and thyme with organic soils). A textbook nose that had me salivating but I decided to eat a couple bites before taking my first sip.

The Whopper was different, not too much going on with the patty, but there was a nice texture to each bite due to the shredded lettuce. The pickles added a sweet touch giving more dynamics while the raw white onion was barely noticeable.

I reached for the challis and the wine’s black pepper note clashed with the sweetness of the sandwich. Over time, my mouth recalibrated to the masculine Rhône wine and the food and drink seemed to find their groove with each ensuing bite.

As we watched the Lakers end Denver’s hopes of getting a hometown win, we finished our burgers and started to enjoy the wine on its own. Through the course of the meal the Lirac Rouge had mellowed out and found balance. The tannins, though medium and drying, started to soften and gave support to the fruit and herbs that lingered on the palate. The Whopper never came close to eclipsing my Famous Star experience but it wasn’t a bad second.