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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!).
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.