Oysters and Provence rosé

I wouldn’t have thought of pairing rosé with oysters to be honest when there are so many good alternatives in the way of white wines but when I was poured a glass of Chateau Galoupet’s Côtes de Provence rosé at Hawksmoor Wood Wharf the other night I found it was a surprisingly good match.

They serve oysters three ways - unadorned, roasted with bone marrow and with a Scotch bonnet mignonette.

The chilli-spiked mignonette was particularly good with the Provençal style of rosé which in many ways works similarly to a white with seafood.

I’m not sure I would abandon my usual choices which you can see if you click on the link below but if I was opening just the one bottle with a meal of which oysters were part it would work just fine - as it would with a less expensive but equally dry rosé

The best wine (and other) pairings with oysters

You can buy Chateau Galoupet’s 2021 rosé on offer £36 at Berry Bros & Rudd at the time of writing and for about £45-50 at other indies

I ate at Hawksmoor as a guest (of my son!)

Oysters with gazpacho and godello

I love oysters but generally find myself ordering the usual suspects with it from a wine list so am also super-pleased to find a new pairing.

This was a godello/treixadura blend from Valdeorras I cam across at a newish Spanish seafood bar called Maresco in Soho. It’s called Louro do Bolo and was made by the masterly Rafael Palacios who always manages to achieve a wonderful precision in his wines. Godello can be and often is rich and buttery, especially when it’s oaked and I don’t think that style would go too well with oysters especially this way of serving them with a light fresh gazpacho-like dressing (which was amazingly delicious) You wouldn’t have wanted too much upfront fruit in it either - albarino or alvarinho are other saline wines that would have worked

If you’d like to try the wine it’s sold by London End Wines, who also have a good description of Palacios’ approach to winemaking at £20.49 and Palmers Wine Store in Bridport in Dorset at £22.

Maresco which is just off Oxford Street on the corner of Berwick Street is a bit of a find. There was a great review of it by Grace Dent in the Guardian the other day.

For other oyster pairings see the best wine - and other - pairings with oysters

Oysters and a Half Shell Gin martini

Having always understood you shouldn’t drink spirits with oysters I was surprised to come across the recommendation from oyster specialist Wright Brothers of accompanying them with a gin martini made from their Half Shell gin.

The gin which has been distilled with Carlingford oyster shells, kelp seaweed and Amalfi lemon is unusual enough - not exactly oystery but certainly saline - but was even better served straight from the freezer with a dash of Aecorn Dry an alcohol-free aperitif which slightly reduced the 42% alcohol of the gin while adding an intriguing herbal, borderline woody note to the martini.

The main thing though is that it was utterly dry which is what you want if you’re eating oysters unadorned or with just a small squeeze of lemon. I only used it because I didn’t have any dry vermouth to hand and I’m not sure it would have worked any better. (Incidentally I tried the gin as a G & T with the oysters too and it didn’t work half as well. The tonic really tasted quite intrusively sweet.

I wouldn't say the gin went better with one type of oyster than another really, just any good oysters you can get your hands on!

Oh, and no alarming after-effects!

You can buy the gin - and oysters - from the Wright Brothers website for £36 a 50cl bottle (it comes in a rather handsome tube) and from their restaurants.

In the light of this I may have to revise my post on oyster pairing The Best Wine (and other) pairings with oysters but you'll hopefully find some other useful suggestions there.

I was sent the gin and the oysters by Wright Brothers

Oysters and dry German riesling

I don't normally think of pairing raw oysters with riesling - even dry ones seem too sweet but I came across a combination last week at the newly opened Magpie in London that worked brilliantly.

The reason was that the oysters were served with diced apple and chicharron (pork crackling), two ingredients that are massively riesling-friendly - the apple because it mimics the flavours, the pork as a perfect savoury contrast.

The riesling was a 2014 Schloss Marienlay from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt in the Mosel - fresh, bright and appley itself (trocken I'm guessing) and available on tap at the very reasonable price of £5 a glass.

It also worked really well with a pretty dish of trout, grapes and quinoa

For other oyster pairings see

Best matches with oysters