Food and wine pairing: oysters with Champagne, Prosecco, and Cava

January is a great month to eat oysters. The name of the month has an “R” in it, and the waters along gulf coast have cooled off, producing plump, sweet oysters with just the right amount of brine. Here in Austin you can get oysters from several local fish mongers, and the WineEnabler.com crew has developed a taste for them this winter.

Of course, we have to pair the oysters that Michael has been shucking with something, and we decided to try bubbles. We know that the classic pairing for oysters is Sancerre, but Sancerres have gotten a little pricey. A good Sancerre these days costs more than $20, and that is about 3 to 4 times the price of a dozen oysters, so we decided to look at other choices, such as Cava and Prosecco. These sparkling wines from Spain and Italy can be excellent values, offering lots of taste with good balance for just a few bucks.

The six sparkling wines we tasted

Over the past couple of weeks we have paired 6 different sparkling wines with fresh gulf oysters that we shucked at home. We’ve tried:

• Two Proseccos: Loredan Gasparini Prosecco and Toffoli Prosecco di Conegliano
• Two Cavas: Avinyó and Naveran
• Two Champagnes: Jose Dhondt Blanc de Blanc and Godmé Père et Fils Verzenay Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs

Even though both of the Champagnes cost about $50, we wanted to include them because Champagne is the benchmark for sparkling wines.

The Champagnes were best without oysters

First, without the oysters to pair with our bubbles, the Champagnes won the tasting contest hands down. The Godmé Blanc de Noirs was full bodied with plenty of pie crust and baked bread to go with hints of dark fruit in the nose. In the mouth, the wine was medium-full bodied with the Pinot Noir grapes providing a little heft. This Grand Cru was an outstanding drink. The Blanc de Blanc from Dhondt was lighter with a toasted yeast nose and a mouthful of sparkling apples. As an aperitif, these were wonderful wines, but when you added in the oysters, things changed.

The Proseccos and Cavas shined with the oysters

We served the oysters on the half-shell with cocktail sauce and crackers. Over the course of the 5 dozen oysters, we tried each wine with oysters with and without the cocktail sauce. When eaten au natural, the oysters paired reasonable well with all of the wines. The Godmé Blanc de Noirs was the least complimentary. There was simply more wine in the glass than the oysters required. Dhondt’s Blanc de Blanc’s lighter body and more refrained taste profile paired nicely.

The real story of the tasting, however, was with the Proseccos and Cavas. All four of the wines paired nicely with the oysters served without cocktail sauce. With this tasting group, consensus can be hard to get, however, we seemed to like the Loredan and the Naveran the best.

When we topped the oysters with the cocktail sauce, both Champagnes struggled. The sweetness of the ketchup and the spicy notes from the horseradish overwhelmed the sophisticated French wines, but not so for the Mediterranean sparklers. Both of the Cavas and Proseccos complimented the oysters and the cocktail sauce. Once again, the group preferred the Loredan and the Naveran, with the Loredan edging out the Naveran to be our favorite pairing.

In general, we consider oysters on the half shell and indulgence. Most of the year they are expensive and good ones can be hard to find, but right now the supply of gulf oysters is good, the prices are low, and the quality is outstanding. So if you are looking for a little treat that does not cost a fortune, shuck yourself some fresh oysters on the half shell and don’t forget the bubbles from Spain or Italy.

Check out these related posts:

1. Food and wine pairing: Oysters, red snapper, and mushroom risotto
2. For lower priced sparkling wines, think outside of France
3. Our food and wine pairing party on New Year’s Eve
4. Half-price oysters and sparkling wine at Parkside
5. Wine, food & friends – better than Valentine’s day