One of the best parts of holiday season on the west coast is the start of crab season and commercial fishing starts next week. Tho I am a fan of Sauvignon Blanc for a drinking, I also like a chilled Beaujolais(one of the only times). Any other recommendations?
You mean other than White Burg? Champagne, of course.
One of my favorite pairings for richer CA Chardonnay, e.g. Ramey or Littorai SVDs.
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Champagne. Duh.
We just did a crab dinner last Friday, had several whites that were all great pairings: Austrian Riesling, a German Kabinett, Chenin Blanc, a Viognier, and of course Champagne.
For wine, I really like acidic, crisp Chardonnay when the Dungey is served simply steamed with drawn butter. Think Morgen Long or Walter Scott.
That said, I actually sometimes enjoy a lighter-peat / smoke single malt Scotch with Dungeness crab.
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Aubert chard, Tres Perlas (the brown Ranch is awesome,) Williams Selyem chards, Alpha Omega’s chard lineup, Rochioli, Peter Michael, Robert Young (and the Robert Young from Chateau St. Jean) …mmmmm, with crab!
It’s hard for me to imagine something better than champagne for the pairing.
Champagne seems like the most obvious and best answer to me.
Opinion: if you are using butter at all on crab (or lobster), richer Chardonnay, especially if it has any wood, is a terrible clash, at least for my taste buds.
nv bollinger
My hands are too messy to hold the glass. So no pairing.
Interesting. I had never considered butter for Dungeness. I will try it and see! I do spritz a little lemon juice here and there.
That’s very interesting!
Definitely an acid issue. You want something that will cut through the crab and/or butter. Too fat a wine and you will lose a lot of flavor with the crab.
cause that’s sacrilege.
All joking aside, there’s some amazing chinese preps for dungeness crab. One of my favorites is a simple soup/stew with mung bean noodles, tofu and napa cabbage (creamy white pork soup base). Just let the crab boil in the soup. drool
I admit to having ever used butter with crab, but it’s traditional with lobster, and I’ve found anything but a really crisp un-oaked Chard is a terrible match.
I will confess that I do like a good cocktail sauce with crab, particularly if the crab is not ultra-fresh (never with DK’s crab!).
Gewurztraminer and Pinot Blanc often show up with our Dungeness crab cakes. Crab lasagne (recipe from Nick’s in McMinnville is fantastic - https://www.northwestwininganddining.com/pages/2011/02/28/dungeness-crab-and-pine-nut-lasagne/ ) gets Champagne.
Cheers,
fred
Champagne or a good chablis
This raises a good question. If you are having any seafood with cocktail sauce, what works best then (or least bad anyway)? And I’m asking about wine, preemptive block on all the droll “just drink beer” and sake and whatever else comments.
I’ve also always found Pinot Blanc to be perfect.
Cheers,
Bill