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Wines of the Week
January 2, 2009

Great Oyster Wines for Pirates
By Chuck Hill

What is a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?  Arrrrrrrrrr!  Same with oysters. They taste best during months with RRRRRRs. So our friends at Taylor Shellfish provided some of the tastiest bivalves you've ever slurped to accompany our oyster wine tastings. (To order your own, visit Taylor at www.taylorshellfishfarms.com and order up one of their multi-species packs!)

Here are some oyster wines to enjoy with the critters:

Snoqualmie Vineyards
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Columbia Valley
$7.00

What a bargain! This SB is light and crisp and a perfect slurp with Kumomotos. Too delicate to stand up to meatier oysters and to mussels, but a delicious sipper. Look for aromas of citrus and herb with delicate floral notes. The palate is light grapefruit with a pleasant finish of spicy herb.

Columbia Winery
2007 Pinot Gris
Columbia Valley
$14.00

Winemaker Kerry Norton blended 5% Chardonnay with his Pinot Gris with the result being a delicious oyster wine. Spicy melon, citrus and tropical notes greet your nose, while the fresh palate offers Asian pear, grapefruit and notes of white peach. Another great all-around sipper.

Basel Cellars
2007 Forget-Me-Not, White Wine
$18.00

This blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc is a little oaky for delicate oysters, but works well with steamed Mediterranean mussels. On the nose you'll find pear and citrus with notes of spicy French oak. The palate features melon, pear and lemongrass with a vanilla, toasty finish.

Eleven Winery
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Red Mountain, Fred Artz Vineyard
$16.00

Matt and Sarah Albee craft some terrific wines at their small winery on Bainbridge Island in Washington's Puget Sound. Matt sourced the grapes for this tasty Sauvignon Blanc from Fred Artz' vineyard on Red Mountain. Look for aromas of pear and lychee with light chalky notes. The palate offers light grapefruit, herb and baking spice with a pleasant citrus finish.

Chateau Ste. Michelle
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Horse Heaven Hills
$15.00

This elegant wine is a blend of 94% Sauvignon Blanc with 6% Semillon to create the texture and mouthfeel sought by winemaker Bob Bertheau. It is a fine oyster wine, but it truly shines with Mediterranean mussels - a spectacular pairing. The nose offers citrus, green apple, melon and baking spice, leading to a rich palate of pear, citrus and herb.

Geyser Peak
2007 Sauvignon Blanc, CA
$12.00

This wine has been a frequent winner in Jon Rowley's highly-regarded Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition where I serve as a judge each year. Almost perfectly balanced in every category, the wine offers complex citrus aromas with notes of gooseberry, grass and tropical fruit. The palate is delicate yet flavorful showing citrus, pear and green apple. If you are serving oysters on the half shell, then this wine should be part of your pouring plan.

Dry Creek Vineyard
2007 Dry Chenin Blanc
Clarksburg (CA)
$11.50

The grapes for this award-winning oyster wine come from the Sacramento Delta area east of San Francisco Bay. It isn't often that you can find a wine with complex, intense aromas that lead to a palate with equally intense - yet different - flavors, all coming together sublimely to complement a wide variety of foods. As the folks at DCV say, "Chenin Blanc is serious business at Dry Creek Vineyard." Tropical fruit, citrus and floral notes are a theme common to both aroma and palate. Superb body, crisp acidity and an uncanny affinity for oysters make this a perennial favorite.

Espiritu de Chile
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Valle de Curico, Chile
$11.00

From the foothills of the Andes comes this unpretentious and delicious oyster wine. Elegant aromas of white peach, grapefruit, spice and herb lead to a palate of citrus, earth and herb with a tantalizing, clean finish that begs another sip. Nothing fancy, just great wine at a great price.



Black Box
NV Pinot Grigio
Veneto, Italy
$22.00 (3-liter box, about $5.50 per 750ml)

For the host or hostess charged with serving a crowd and maintaining fiscal sanity, reach for Black Box Pinot Grigio. A favorite with beginners and experienced tasters - just ask my friends Courtney and Kelsey - the wine offers a nose of citrus, Asian pear and melon with a crisp citrus palate and delicate finish.

 

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