Football, Oysters & Riesling, and a Reminder Not to Forget Bordeaux
Monday, January 13, 2014 at 7:49PM This past Saturday night, my fiancée and I sat down to enjoy the Patriots-Colts game, in style. Rather than choosing to enjoy traditional football fare as we cheered the Patriots on to victory, we decided to be a little fancier, and a little healthier. So, instead of loading up on pizza, chicken wings, and other snacks, we took a trip to Guild Fine Meats, and stocked up on oysters and a roast chicken for our gametime enjoyment. And of course, I was prepared to enjoy a few good wines during the game.
We enjoyed the oysters during the first half with a bottle of 2003 Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric Emile, a tremendous Riesling from Alsace. Oysters are becoming a new passion of mine, and after a rough first attempt at shucking them where I put a nasty gash into my left hand, I've become quite proficient at preparing a plate of oysters. (I've also bought an oyster glove.);)
Shucking oysters, my new culinary passion. As my obsession with oysters has developed, I've noticed that they demonstrate a terroir in a manner similar to wine. The oysters we enjoyed on Saturday were Thatch Island Oysters, from Barnstable Harbor, in Cape Cod. I'm still enough of an oyster novice that I probably couldn't tell the difference between a Thatch Island Oyster and a Wellfleet, or a Bluepoint, but I'm excited to test my palate, and learn more about oysters in the years to come. (Note: For anyone who might also be interested in learning about oysters, I was given a great book for Christmas, called A Geography of Oysters, by Rowan Jacobsen, which has been a tremendous resource in my oyster education thus far.
However, despite my love for oysters, and delicious flavors of petrol, honeyed mineral, and citrus displayed by the 2003 Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric Emile, it was a bottle of 2001 Chateau Talbot that left me awestruck on Saturday night.