Posted by Katie Ambrosi, Wine Club Manager
Oysters and Sauvignon Blanc are an undisputed culinary delight, and last week, the management at Vintage Wine Estates treated our company to a fantastic feast of oysters both barbecued and raw, along with delicious Sauvignon Blancs from our amazing line-up of wineries: Windsor Vineyards, Windsor Sonoma Winery, Sonoma Coast Vineyards, StoneFly Vineyards and Girard Winery. Our Vintage Wine Estates winemaking team was there to pour and answer any questions about Sauvignon Blanc and wine in general.
Oh how we suffer to further the expertise of our Personal Wine Consultants!
Chilled Sauvignon Blanc fresh from the ice bucket, ready for tasting.
The weather was amazing; 70-ish degrees with not a cloud in sight. But the wine and oysters were the true stars of the event, aptly named “Vintage Wine Estates Shuck and Awe”. The oysters themselves came from the acclaimed Hog Island Oyster Company in the town of Marshall, located on the beautiful Tomales Bay. Hog Island Oyster Company is one of the most celebrated oyster producers in America and is known nationwide for their fresh, succulent Pacific oysters. Our picks for the day were Kumamoto oysters served raw with Windsor Vineyards Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc as a perfect wash and Pacific oysters barbecued with a wonderfully simple Sauvignon Blanc, butter and garlic sauce (recipe below).
Fresh Hog Island Kumamoto oysters from Tomales Bay, California
Why are Sauvignon Blancs a perfect partner for oysters? The higher acid, dry, crisp, clean and refreshing characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc allow the sweet, creamy sea flavors of the oysters to flourish, while making your taste buds cry out for more of both. Here in Windsor, we are about 40 minutes from the coast, but something about the combination of oysters and the perfect Sauvignon Blanc made me imagine I wasn’t in the back patio of the winery, but sitting on the beach in the sun, perfectly pedicured toes in the warm sand and a fresh sea breeze in the air (reminder: schedule pedicure).
So which of our Sauvignon Blancs worked the best? I am a firm believer that every person’s experience with wine is individual, that is why it was great that each of our Sauv Blancs created a different experience. Each are true representations of the varietal with subtle differences that make them unique. The lightest in profile was the Girard Winery 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley, this pairing reminded me more of an aperitif experience as did the lighter, grassy and more traditional Windsor Sonoma Winery 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley. The StoneFly Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley was blended with a bit of Semillon making it a bit bigger in profile and almost a meaty, full meal experience. We actually tasted the 2008 vintage Windsor Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc – we wanted to save the few remaining bottles of our excellent 2007 vintages for our customers. The 2008 is young at the moment but will quickly develop into something just as great as the 2007 vintages our customers loved so much.
Okay, okay, if I was forced to pick a favorite, it would be the Sonoma Coast Vineyards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Coast, Laguna Vista Vineyards, it was everything the others were and more, truly a love at first sip. This Sauvignon Blanc is aged on the lees for a wonderful, rich complexity and mouth feel. But again, each offered an amazing, different experience.
Shuck and Awe was fantastic, we can’t thank the management enough and wait in anticipation of the promised “reds-n-ribs” fest this summer!
Recipe: Barbecued Pacific Oysters with Sauvignon Blanc & Garlic Butter
Grilled Pacific Oysters with Sauvignon Blanc & Garlic Butter
This ultra-simple method of preparing fresh Pacific oysters is courtesy of our very own Bob Powers, pitmaster and wine consultant extraordinaire.
Ingredients:
- Fresh oysters, medium size (we used medium Pacific)
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 10 cloves garlic, minced fine
- 3/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc
- Rock salt (for serving plate)
- Hot pepper sauce (optional)
Preparation & Cooking:
Prepare charcoal grill with a hot, banked fire.
Rinse oysters in fresh water and scrub with soft brush to remove any grit on the shells.
Combine butter, garlic and Sauvignon Blanc in a heatproof bowl. Set on coolest area of grill & allow to melt & combine flavors. Watch temperature carefully to keep from scorching.
Working in batches of 6 to 12, set oysters over hottest part of grill. Oysters will be done when the shells pop (7 to 10 minutes). Remove from grill with tongs or hot-pad.
Using a towel to avoid burning your hands, remove the top shell (be careful not to spill accumulated liquor). Loosen oyster foot from shell with a sharp paring knife. Arrange open oysters on plate set about an inch deep with rock-salt to keep the oysters upright, and spoon about a half-tablespoon of Sauvignon Blanc butter into each oyster.
Top with hot sauce if desired, and serve hot with a glass of — you guessed it — Sauvignon Blanc.
Filed under: Events, Food, Food & Wine Pairing, Life, Wine, wine tasting
