Finding the Perfect Mate for a Bivalve

Twilight descends on the sailboat anchored in a forested Alaskan cove. I can still make out a bald eagle perched in a cedar, its head like a white tennis ball in the gloom. I hear a cork pop softly below, and soon a glass of wine is handed up the companionway.

Ah, Sauvignon Blanc. After a hard day of beating into salt-spitting wind, the fruit is amazing--pure and ripe with its piercing scents and flavors of melon, fig, spring grass and wildflowers. The boat rocks gently, stars wink and then blaze, and the crisp, luscious wine seems to glow in the briny air.

I’ve never enjoyed wine more than on a sailing trip. Sure, the anchor drop is a signal for cold beer. That’s a universal law. But after that primal need is satisfied, it’s time for higher sensual pursuits--and few olfactory sensations are as satisfying as that meeting of land and sea, the bottled soul of sun and earth in a bracing oceanic setting.

Any wine with reasonably intense fruit fits the bill (a big, juicy Zinfandel is marvelous). But there’s something about Sauvignon Blanc that complements the savor of the ocean just about perfectly.

I kept thinking about that while tasting various wines with oysters a couple of weeks ago. The 2002 Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition is described by its founder, Seattle seafood merchant Jon Rowley, as an “annual dating service for wines and oysters.” I, for one, took a nearly lascivious pleasure in my matchmaking duties.

An oyster is literally the essence of its environment. It filters gallons of seawater daily, retaining the nutrients, especially minerals. The concentration of minerals probably accounts for the slight rush some people experience when eating oysters, and no doubt has something to do with the oyster’s long-standing reputation for aphrodisiacal powers.

More to the point, it accounts for its bold flavor of the sea. Or, more accurately, flavors: The creature that Aldous Huxley called “a piece of machinery greatly more complicated than a watch” has a way of expressing its oysterness differently in various locations, in much the same way wine grapes reflect terroir. Oysters of the same species grown in different bays on the Pacific Coast are as distinct as, say, Sauvignon Blancs from Dry Creek Valley and Napa Valley.

For the competition, Rowley selected Kumamotos from the Washington coast. The Kumamoto is a mysterious subspecies of the Pacific oyster originally from Japanese waters. Its complex flavor begins by spreading in soft, salty-sweet billows that suddenly part to reveal a pulse of briny minerality that lingers on a clean cucumber-like finish.

To be honest, I normally favor a French Sauvignon Blanc such as Sancerre with oysters (Hippolyte Reverdy’s, for example). A steely Champagne from the Chardonnay vineyards of the Cote des Blancs works for me too. But sitting in on this tasting reminded me rather forcefully that just as the West Coast produces some of the world’s best oysters, it yields some fine oyster wines too.

There were about a dozen and a half wines from California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Most were Sauvignon Blancs from the 2000 vintage, but there were also a Chenin Blanc, a Pinot Blanc, a Semillon and three Pinot Gris. All had been selected by a hearty crew of tasters in Seattle. The task handed to me and a dozen fellow tasters was to cull the best of the best, 10 wines deemed ideal matches with the noble Kumamoto.

To my surprise, two of my top three wines were Pinot Gris. I loved the high-toned, spicy fruit of the 2000 Oak Knoll Winery Pinot Gris (Oregon) and its lively debate with the Kumamoto brine. They ended up agreeing on every point.

I also liked the 2000 King Estate Pinot Gris (Oregon). Tasted by itself it seemed too broadly fruity for oyster duty. But the combination of grape and sea was magic. There was another kind of magic with the 2001 Geyser Peak Winery Sauvignon Blanc (California). Its bright, herb-inflected fruit and mineral undertones brought out the Kumamoto’s sweet side.

The match between oysterness and 2000 Rodney Strong Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (California) was straightforward harmony. The pure melon flavor of the wine amplified the nutlike taste many oyster lovers associate with the Kumamoto. That richness also responded to the delicately floral fruit and steely acidity of the 2000 Gray Monk Estate Winery Pinot Gris (British Columbia). And I loved the crisp, ripe flavors of the 2000 Maryhill Winery Sauvignon Blanc (Washington), which framed the sea taste beautifully. I also gave high marks to Sauvignon Blancs from Cakebread, EOS and Pedroncelli (California), Eola Hills (Oregon) and Chateau St. Michelle (Washington).

All in all, a strong showing for West Coast wines--and pleasant duty for an oyster fan. As my last plate of empty shells was taken away, I recalled Samuel Butler’s observation, “What can awaken less consciousness of warm affection than an oyster? Who would press an oyster to his heart, or pat it, and want to kiss it? Yet nothing short of its complete absorption into our own being can in the least satisfy us.”

Indeed, for those of us who don’t mind tossing something strange down our throats, so long as it smacks of arcane oceanic mysteries and zaps us with the effects of pure, concentrated nutrients from the sea, oysters on the half shell are among the great seasonal treats. Especially with a glass of crisp white wine.