How To Eat Oysters And What To Drink With Them

Oysters have eating rules, but [almost] anything goes when it comes to wine pairings.

If you’re an “er-month” oyster-eater, this is the last month for doing so. Living in a city with excellent oyster offerings, I eat them all year ‘round. But if you’re a stickler for rules, here’s some basic etiquette for eating the mollusks, and then some rules to break when pairing them with wine.

·     Give a little lip service. If eating raw oysters on the shell, use the small fork to loosen the oyster. Bring the shell to your mouth and suck that sucker in (or, more delicately, tilt and taste).

·     Chew and deliberate. “If you just swallow it, you’re pretending to like oysters,” says mollusk man Rowan Jacobsen, author of The Essential Oyster. “Every oyster is its own thing, so you’re capturing it at a snapshot in time.” Chewing it slowly in your mouth will release its umami, he says, and changes the experience of the wine with which you pair it.

·     Do not fear the juice. That briny liquid the oyster sits in is part of the deal, giving it marine context so you get the full effect. And don’t forget to smell the shell: It’s part of the experience.

·     To mignonette or not? Oysters often are served with a condiment of minced shallots, cracked pepper and vinegar. Many say it masks the flavor and, instead, recommend a squeeze of fresh lemon. Jacobsen says the best way to explore the differences in oyster varieties is to go completely naked. Order a serving large enough to experiment with different styles.

·     Shell game. When finished with a raw oyster on the shell, you can turn it over on the crushed ice to signify you’re done (and signal the server that you’re ready for more!)

Wine Pairings: What the pros know

“Oysters, like wine, have a distinct set of flavors depending on where in the world they exist,” says sommelier Emily Tolbert, wine director at Savoir and La Grande Rue in Houston. “Some are on the funkier, more salty side, while others are very subtle in flavor with a beautifully clean finish.”

To that end, many sommeliers turn to tried and true wines for pairing with all kinds of mollusks‚ and here, France rules: Muscadet from Loire Valley, Champagne and Chablis. But as Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously said, “rules are meant to be broken.” So, if you’re feeling a bit of truancy with your oyster and wine pairings, check out what these pros drink with.

1. Picpoul Blanc from the Languedoc is beautiful. Even in the warmth of the Languedoc this varietal retains acid, bright fruit and a rocky, stony quality—qualities [that] are awesome with oysters, especially east coast varieties. Chris Coker, sommelier, Bourbon Steak at The Four Seasons Washington, D.C.

2. I am a huge fan of dry Aussie Riesling with oysters! The acidity works so well with the texture and salinity and those quenchy citrus notes are a perfect frame to boot. Eric S. Crane, Empire Distributors Inc., Atlanta

3. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is ideal, crisp and lively, just what you want with a “fatty” Hog Island oyster, or the more mild chenin blanc from Loire Valley with a Prince Edward Island oyster.” —John Foy, theWineOdyessy.com

4. Sauternes—this used to be a classic pairing in the late 18th century. The brinier the oysters the better, but it works with [sweeter] west coast oysters as well if you use a younger, more vibrant Sauternes. For Atlantic coast oysters, which are a little more briny, I would choose a young first wine, or even something like St Croix du Mont (Bordeaux) or Cerons (Southwest France). With a west coast oyster, I’d want more acid and fruit and merely hints of botrytis, so look for a young second wine from a good house like Climens, Suduiraut, Guiraud or Lafaurie-Peyraguey—it’s really a classic salty-sweet pairing. Just play with how much salt and how much sweet are in each side of the pairing: They all work, but it’s lots of fun to experiment. Jeff Harding, beverage director, Waverly Inn, New York City.

5. I’m going full Fino Sherry for this pairing. It gets overlooked by Americans, but the attributes that flor aging contribute really lift the fresh oceany quality of oysters—doubly so if you have Manzanilla on hand. The coastal Palomino! Also, for that same coastal reason, Txakoli! —Cate Hatch, CS, CSW, general manager/sommelier, Southern Belle & Georgia Boy.

6. I particularly like Sancerres grown on a hard type of limestone called Caillottes [in Loire Valley] with oysters, as these have a linear quality to them that plays well with more delicate types of east coast oysters. If you want bubbles with your oysters, a great match is a brut nature Pinot Noir from the Aube/Côte des Bar region of southern Champagne. —Jon-David Headrick, Jon-David Headrick Selections, Charlotte, N.C. 

7. The classic pairings are obviously Muscadet, Chablis and Champagne. Personally I like to take a different approach, [like] Viognier from France—for example, Jaboulet’s “Incognito C.” The higher alcohol mitigates the salty brine of the oyster. This balances the two flavors and makes the oyster taste meatier and the wine jump with flavors of ripe peach and white flowers. I also really enjoy a pairing of chilled Fino Sherry—this has the opposite effect of the Viognier—it accents the salty brine and makes the oyster taste sharp. On a warm day by the beach eating gulf oysters, this is my preferred pairing. It is crisp, clean and isn’t harmed by a little horseradish and Tabasco. —Gregory Mayer, Berns Steak House, Tampa, Fla.

8. I like Methode Ancestral (but not all) or brut zero wines because they have no residual sugar. They accentuate and pair well with the saltiness and brininess, and I like a light citrus squeeze. The bubbles play on the tongue and the acidity brightens the palate. There’s a sea-breeze salinity in a well-made brut zero. I also like Hondarrabi Zuri Blanc from Txacholi (Spain’s Basque region)—again, explosive fresh fragrance, delicate, fun and frivolous. —Whit Meyers, wine director at Park House Dallas.

9. Sherry is made from Palomino grapes that benefit from the large amount of sea breeze they’re hit with as they grow. Unsurprisingly, this lends the grapes a fair amount of minerality, which translates perfectly to foods that are briny or salty in any way, oysters being a prime example. Since Sherry is a fortified wine, it features a nuttiness not typically found in wines with lower percentages of alcohol, which works rather well with salty foods. Style matters when pairing with oysters, so be sure to choose one of the lighter, drier options such as Fino, otherwise, your oysters will end up being overpowered. —Kevin McGuire, DipWSET, sommelier The Wine House, Fairfax, Va.

10. I took an Alois Lageder, Vigneti delle Dolomite IGT, Shiava 2018 to a food and wine pairing event. The food to match was fried seafood, including white fish, oysters and clams—not quite the same as raw oysters. I thought the lean, crisp freshness of the light red wine would work as well as a lean, crisp, fresh white wine, as long as the tannins were well integrated and light. And, indeed, this wine proved my theory. It is a light-bodied, lean, crisp, mouth-watering red wine with tannins on the soft, mellow side—an important key to its ability to pair with oysters. I think it would hold its own with briny oysters and fit well with creamy oysters. —Rebecca Murphy, wine columnist, and founder of Dallas Morning News Wine Competition (predecessor to TEXSOM International Wine Awards).

11. Grillo, Sicily’s noble indigenous white grape—the love child of the generous Catarrato and fragrant Zibbibo— [is] the unsung hero in [my] humble opinion. The best versions exude delicate nuances that evolve with time from lightweight apertif styles exhibiting zesty lemon and grapefruit to full body, rich styles singing with spice, ginger, and honey when blessed with botrytis cinerea aka noble rot. —Rashmi Primlani, theprimlanikitchen.com.

12. Sauternes with Kumamoto or Hama Hama west coast oysters, which are small and sweet with notes of melon and cucumber. In the fall months, these sweet mollusks develop a slightly briny flavor. A young Sauternes like Rieussec 2014 or 2013 carries notes of candied citrus, fresh melon and wild flowers. There is a great balance between sweetness, freshness and salinity in this pairing, like the final summer sunsets changing into warm, crisp autumn days. —Carrie Strong, wine director, Casa Lever, New York City.

13. To me, the perfect pairing is found in two wines: Crémant d’Vouvray and Fino Sherry. I love sparkling Vouvray: It has a bright pop of fresh fruit on the palate that lends itself as a better flavor partner with saltiness and brininess. I personally love the sweet fruity flavors with robust salty flavors, so sparkling Vouvray is one of my favorites with oysters. (And to be fair, really any sparkling Chenin Blanc with oysters.) To me, the marriage of the like flavors between Fino and oysters is incendiary. I may be biased, having a family from Spain and all, but when enjoying Fino and oysters while being as objective as possible, to me there’s hardly a better wine pairing to oysters. —Emily Tolbert, wine director, Savoir and La Grande Rue, Houston.