Typically when I pair a special wine I try to use very simple foods which is why I recommended the raw or grilled shellfish.
Grilled veggies and goat cheese mille-feuilles or Napoleon
This was a staple in a Montreal restaurant for a while. Alternate sliced grilled veggies, puff pastry sheet or heavily buttered crispy filo, nuggets of goat cheese, micro-greens. Repeat until you have a decent tower. They drizzled honey and balsamic on it but I would hold off on that. You could even introduce some very thin slices of fried pancetta.
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Sorry to sidetrack slightly, but with all of you raving about the wine I’m trying to identify what “2010 Vatan” is. When I query CT I get 4 possibilities (and one which is a misspelled dupe which I have reported). Could someone clarify which one you are all talking about?
TIA!
EDIT: OK, so I guess it’s the 2010 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore, since that the one that’s way, way out of my price range!
But as an aside, this sort of assumption that people will just know which of 4 possible wines you are talking about is one of the features of WB that makes it impenetrable to newbies/youngsters.
Fresh King Crab is the best! Also great with any kind of shellfish.
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Yes, it’s Edmond/Clos la Néore.
The reality of French/European villages is that there are often lots of people making wine with the same last name. But in this case, I have never heard of the other three and I don’t think they are anywhere close to being in the same conversation.
People do specify when they drink some of the more famous examples of high-level winemakers where there are multiple domaines with the same last name (or when going to the Savoie and drinking from one of the five dozen Quenard domaines). But not sure it’s always going to be practical.
Kenji lopez alt has a good spatch recipe for the oven that for me is pretty foolproof. quick cooking and crispy skin always. i think its important to try the sancerre over time, as vatan can require some time, and it helps show how the wine changes over time. hope its a great bottle.
so many (excellent) suggestions. My only 2.5 cents, Todd (and only if you want to)—what about doing a couple of dishes and then you and your daughter can compare and contrast? That’s some of the most fun I tend to have, to show the spectrum that a wine can cover. Above all–enjoy!!
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Pan seared scallops over chopped up button mushrooms and truffle make for a wonderful mature Sancerre pairing.
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Slight tangent - Ora king is always available on Goldbelly, often with a promo (mailing list signup being the easiest). Vatan or not, Ora king is good stuff!
Well, massive failure, thanks to Vatan’s propensity for premox…had to pivot and open my ‘next best thing’, a 2020 Domaine Pascal Cotat Sancerre La Grande Côte, you can guess which of the two was the Vatan in the photo below:
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Sad! It sounds like you did okay with the backup, though.
Bummer! What food did you choose?
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Stick to reds next time 
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Right?!?
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I went with the roasted chicken, which I spatchcocked and served with a bunch of roasted veggies and the tarragon cream sauce as recommended above. Meal was great but without a doubt there’s no way to fully enjoy it after the focus of the meal was messed up like that
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It was never about the wine, it was about spending time with your daughter, which I’m sure was priceless…
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No clue what that is!
Really? And you call yourself an old country lawyer? Splitting a chicken and roasting it is hardly arcane cooking.
Alfert doesn’t cook, trust me.
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