Please do me a favor and report back about restaurant. We'll be in
Laguna Beach over Christmas, and will be looking for a place for at
least one night (we mostly eat with Betsy's grandmother). I found
Mirabeau in Dana Point on web, looks like it might be a possibilty
(depending what we do about a car).

On that list, I'd probably go for the Joguet Chinon (by bottle). Joguet
went through a rough patch in 90s, but the one 2000 I had was nice
(different bottling). Likely to be on lighter side, though. If others
favor bigger New World reds not a good choice. The Saintsbury Carneros
PN is usually dependable, too.

Personally, if the duck you referred to is the one in orange sauce,
that's a tough match. The Chinon is probably better than the Burg for
that particular sauce, but even with rouge-centrics I'd probably get a
1/3 carafe of one of the Alsace PBs to try as an experiment- light for
the duck, but better for the sauce.