Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/599676
f a l l / w i n t e r 2 0 1 5 | 4 5 If in the food universe, you believe the world is your oyster, then what heavenly wine might you pair with that? Traditionally, it's been the highly quaffable and amiable Muscadet from eastern Loire Valley in France. Or even some minerally Sauvignon Blancs. But many are saying, move over Muscadet, as Chablis gains popular- ity as a match for mollusks. And why not? It's a natural pairing of terroir + merroir, concepts that diners and drinkers alike have embraced in the recent locovore moment. "People are thinking about it more now [and] it does correspond pretty closely with how it works with wines and grapes," says Rowan Jacobson, an oyster expert and author of A Geography of Oysters: The Connois- seur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America. "You have your choice of [oyster] species—which is the equivalent of the grape, then you have the terroir based on the waters and the hand of the grower," he said. Oyster terroir, called "merroir," mimics the land-based concept for grapes, as oyster flavors are affected by holistic conditions such as geog- raphy, salinity, water temperature, seabed, and cultivation methods. And, the marriage of oyster and Chablis makes even more sense con- sidering the soil in which most Chardonnays from Chablis are grown: the ancient, elevated seabed Kimmeridgian, which is chalky and chock-full of fossilized oyster shells. "To me, there's such a parallel between Chablis and the shellfish be- cause of the soil there," says Sandy Block, MW, Wine Director of Boston- based Legal Sea Foods. "Of all the food products, oysters show their provenance and their personality most clearly—just like terroir-based wine like Chablis." PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG PHOTO: JOSH REYNOLDS PHOTO: JOSH REYNOLDS From left, Legal Sea Foods' Richard Vellente, Executive Chef and Executive Vice President, sits down with Sandy Block, Master of Wine, at Legal Sea Foods' Harborside location in Boston. Sandy Block pairs a tray of local oysters—Merry from Duxbury and Wellfleet from Cape Cod—served with a bottle of Albert Bichot Chablis Château Long-Depaquit.