What You Must Know Before Pairing Wine with Oysters
This New Year’s Eve don’t ruin your oysters with the wrong wine
A few years ago, when our son was still very small and difficult, my partner and I managed to secure a rare date night which began, as these things do, with a terrible argument. I have no recollection of the argument’s nature, only that by the time we reached the doorway of Marlow & Sons there was serious contemplation of calling the babysitter and informing her we were on our way home.
But then came the wine and the oysters.
Six excellent North Forks and a cold, crisp white that suited it exactly perfectly. Knot by knot the argument came untied. Another six oysters were ordered, two more glasses of that same wine came and the fight was past tense. Ever since, I have regarded the pairing of oysters and wine as mandatory to the maintenance of my relationship and a necessary prelude to any date.
The only problem is, I never did write down the name of the wine they served that night and I have been grasping sometimes successfully, sometimes not, for a repeat experience. It was for this reason that I finally consulted with Jon Rowley, a man who was known throughout the United States as a discoverer of specific good tastes and who had a particular affinity for oysters and their wine mates. Jon sadly passed away in 2017 but…
