The Tasting Panel magazine

MARCH 10

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52 / the tasting panel / march 2010 W hat happens when you put a winemaker in the same room as an oyster afi cio- nado?" The punchline: "You have a terroir-able time." Oyster "terroir" expert Rowan Ja- cobsen, James Beard Award–winning author of A Geography of Oysters, recently joined winemakers Mick Schroeter and Matthew Mitchell, from Geyser Peak and The Crossings, re- spectively, for a tasting of oyster and wine terroirs at the famed Oyster Bar in New York's Grand Central Terminal. "I grew up eating oysters and learned that their differences were because of where they came from," said Jacobsen, who spent a year eating his way through the country's oyster hotspots while researching his book. Jacobsen presented six varieties of oysters from the East and West Coasts as well as from Japan, each with its own distinctive mix of salt, brine, earth, river and ocean; the winemakers poured complementary whites—and a sole Pinot Noir. Oyster connoisseurs have long debated the ideal complement to the briny delicacy—from champagne to Chablis. But thanks to the reconsid- ered efforts of winemakers like Mick Schroeter and Matthew Mitchell, a new crop of contemporary wines are passing the oyster challenge. Schroeter singled out the Geyser Peak Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc as a "reimag- ined" wine. "It's one of the things I'm most proud of. The style has changed, striking a nice balance between a Cali- fornia Sauvignon Blanc and what we'd produce in New Zealand." Similarly, the Crossings unoaked Chardonnay from Marlborough's Awatere Valley represented Mitchell's confi dence in Chardonnay's come- back. "We're trying to rekindle the interest by moving the complexity up a notch," he said. The goal of the pairings was to reach what Jacobsen calls "the bliss factor," the perfect match of wine and oyster. We'd say a terroir-able time was had by all. What We're pAiriNG slippery slope by Lana Bortolot conteMporary Wines froM sonoMa to neW Zealand bring oysters oUt of tHeir SHell Geyser Peak 2009 Pinot Grigio, California ($11) The Crossings 2008 Chardonnay, Awatere Valley, Marlborough ($15) Geyser Peak 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, California ($11) The Crossings 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Awatere Valley, Marlborough ($15) Geyser Peak 2008 River Ranches Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley ($20) The Crossings 2008 Pinot Noir, Awa- tere Valley, Marlborough ($19) Mystic oysters: North Atlantic brininess with fi rm body, touch of sweetness Totten Virginica oysters: an East Coast oyster grown in the mineral-rich waters of Totten Inlet, Puget Sound, the "Côte d'Or" of oyster appellations Kumamoto oysters: native to south- ern Japan—petit, deep cups and with melon notes and tropical fruit fi nish Totten Inlet Pacifi c oysters: premium oyster known for its sweetness and muskiness; slightly more salty, cucum- ber fi nish Kusshi oysters: from Deep Bay, British Columbia, a sort of bonsai oyster— small, clean, delicate, vibrant in fl avor, with a complex herbal quality Olympia oysters: smoky and chewy, with a concentrated shot of copper, celery salt and mushroom broth the BliSS factor: the perfect Meeting of Wine and oyster PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT

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