World is your oysters with white or sparkling
Parasitic relationships have existed as long as life on this planet. The feature topic of today’s iDEAL section may not sound particularly appetizing but parasites are an essential fact of nature, a fact that more palatable when popular parasitic hosts are appropriately paired with wine. Oysters attract both parasites and gourmets alike, but it’s when oysters meet wine that one of the culinary world’s most symbiotic relationships happens.
Many still believe the consumption of oysters, especially served raw, is for the brave hearted. Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift once said: “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” In reality, raw oysters fresh off the beach were consumed by our pre-Homo sapien ancestors millions of years ago. Today almost every coastal nation produces and consumes these marvelous mollusks and there’s no shortage of reasons why.
Oysters are delicious whether eaten raw on the half shell or cooked in a plethora of ways, including steamed, broiled, baked, stir-fried, deep-fried, smoked, boiled, stewed, pickled or even served as a drink.
Oysters are also quite healthy with abundant amounts of zinc, iron and calcium as well as Vitamin A and B.
They are naturally low in calories and high in protein. Many consider oysters to be an aphrodisiac. Best of all, oysters are wonderful companions to wine.
The best wines to pair with raw oysters are acidic sparkling or white wines like no dosage Champagne, Brut Franciacorta and Prosecco sparklers and young Sauvignon Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay whites. All are fine companions to oysters, but personally I prefer an often-overlooked wine from France.
Gourmets are fond of saying that the best wines for raw oysters are clean and lean, in other words exceedingly dry with focus. In the world of wine, nothing does lean as well as Muscadet. Additionally, the sea-borne minerality of Muscadet whites beautifully parallels the briny flavor of oysters.
Wine lovers around the world are looking for something different, something that pairs nicely with raw oysters and other raw or lightly cooked seafood. Muscadet offers a wonderful alternative at affordable prices. A good bottle of Muscadet is usually about half the price of comparable Sancerre or Pouilly-Fume wines. But challenges still exist.
First there’s the grape Mellon de Bourgogne, a variety that as the name suggests originated then disappeared from Burgundy. This grape can easily make bland and insipid wines, but in the hands of a skilled winemaker results can be unforgettably distinctive. One secret is aging on the lees or
as they call it in France. This means the wine stays in contact with the post-fermentation dead yeast cells. The interaction between the lees, or dead yeast cells, over a period of time bestows greater flavor intensity and complexity to the wine. Most good Muscadet wines use this technique.
The inconsistent quality of Muscadet wines means it’s critical to choose the right producer.
Much more so than most other styles of French wines, when choosing a Muscadet you must be producer selective. Recommended producers include Domaine de Begrolles, Chateau de la Ragotiere, Domaine de L’Ecu, Chateau La Gravelle and Chereau-Carre.