Which Wine To Drink With Seafood?
Oysters, prawns, clams, crayfish, shrimps, sea urchins, whelks, crabs... It's not always easy to match a well-stocked seafood platter with a wine. Which one should you choose? Find out how to match this kind of feast with the right wine for a successful food and wine pairing!
Sauvignon monovarietal wines
SAUVIGNON: A STAPLE WITH SHELLFISH
A seafood platter is composed of different elements rich in texture and flavoaur. Some of these elements can be raw or cooked. It may therefore seem difficult and complicated to match a wine with such a rich aroma.
Dry white wines made from the Sauvignon variety are the ideal accompaniment to a seafood platter. The Loire Valley is a goldmine when it comes to accompanying shellfish and crustaceans! The Sauvignon grape expresses itself particularly well in this vineyard, with appellations such as Quincy, Reuilly and Sancerre, as well as a number of Saumur AOC wines. With its soil rich in limestone and flint, and its aromas of citrus fruit and fresh herbs, Sancerre is without doubt the best gift you could give your seafood platter!
For oysters from the Arcachon Basin, which are often eaten plain and unadorned, opt for a local reference. We recommend two cuvées from the Bordeaux vineyards: a cuvée from the Entre-deux-mers AOC and a cuvée from Mouton Cadet in the Bordeaux AOC, made mostly from the Sauvignon grape variety, with citrus notes and a lovely minerality.
LIVELY MUSCADETS ARE A BIG HIT WITH OYSTERS
You'll find more complexity with Loire appellations. For a classic pairing with no room for error, choose a Muscadet de Loire. Made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape variety, Muscadet Côteaux de la Loire, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu and Muscadet AOC are perfect candidates for enhancing the freshness of your dishes. A classic with shellfish!
Oysters are an important part of any seafood platter. We try to sublimate this mollusc with an appropriate wine. The best candidate among Muscadet wines is the Muscadet AOC. Its palate is straightforward, and its mineral, floral and iodine flavours are the perfect accompaniment to this delicate dish. This dry white wine from the Loire region is ideal thanks to its liveliness, tonicity and lovely length on the palate. With a Muscadet, your pairing is 100% guaranteed!
RELY ON BURGUNDY TO HIGHLIGHT LOBSTERS, CRAYFISH AND CRAWFISH
Does your seafood spread include lobsters, crayfish and crawfish? These noble crustaceans are likely to set the tone for the food and wine pairing because of their refined character. Indeed, their flesh is dense and their aromatic profile is rich. Delicate, round white wines should be preferred.
The wines of Chablis, with their unparalleled minerality and finesse, fit the bill, as do the prestigious wines of the Burgundy appellation Puligny-Montrachet. The wines of these two AOCs not only enhance the lobster, crayfish and langoustine, they are also a perfect match for the other elements of the dish. For a perfect match, here's our recommendation for a Chablis 1er Cru cuvée:
CHABLIS 1ER CRU - FOURCHAUME - MAISON SIMONNET FEBVRE
Caution: Some white Burgundy wines may have spent time in oak barrels, which gives them a vanilla, woody taste. It is best to avoid wines with a pronounced oak taste, as this does not go well with the iodine in seafood.
CHABLIS AOC top offers
A RIESLING FOR YOUR SEAFOOD
To accompany your seafood platter, try an Alsatian Riesling. These wines from a northern terroir with harsh winters express themselves through their surprising freshness. The controlled acidity and the impressive minerality of these wines go well with all the elements of a seafood platter. Rich and fruity with a nice length on the palate, Rieslings are the perfect partners for a fresh pairing!
RIESLING GRAND CRU PFINGSTBERG - DOMAINE VALENTIN ZUSSLIN
TRY OUT BRUT CHAMPAGNE FOR A FESTIVE APERITIF!
It is not uncommon for a seafood platter to be served at the table on special occasions, especially during the holiday season. A great occasion calls for a festive touch and the king of festive wines is Champagne!
With their great freshness and lovely fruity and floral notes, Champagnes are a perfect match for seafood. Not only do they match elegantly with all the elements on the platter, they also fit in perfectly with the rest of the meal.
Fine and refined, Champagne is an excellent introduction to a range of white, rosé or red wines. There is no risk of altering the palate for the continuation of the wines. In addition, the fine bubbles of Champagne renew the taste buds by breaking up the sickly taste of raw molluscs. Prefer a brut Champagne and forget the overly sweet demi-sec that may unbalance the pairing.
Champagne Brut top offers
WINES FROM SAVOY, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, EVEN RED AND ROSÉ WINES MAKE FOR SURPRISING MATCHES!
Surprise your guests by serving them an Apremont 100% Jacquère, or a Chignon Bergeron AOC! These two appellations from the Savoyard vineyards have everything you need to accompany seafood. The typicality of the terroir gives the wines a controlled acidity which translates into a great freshness. Savoyard wines know how to sublimate crab meat.
LAGAR DE CERVERA ALBARIÑO - LA RIOJA ALTA
To get off the beaten track, some Spanish and Portuguese wines are also perfect with a seafood platter. With their mineral and citrus notes and their freshness, Galician wines from the Rias Baixas appellation are ideal.Our recommendation for this cuvée from the Spanish AOP: try the famous ‘green wines’, the vinhos verdes!
These particularly young wines are incomparably fresh! Harvested and bottled early, vinhos verdes are lively, taut and slightly sparkling, perfect for shellfish and crustaceans. The native grape varieties that make up this appellation provide minerality, fruitiness and aromas of plants such as laurel.
CAN YOU DRINK RED OR ROSÉ WINE WITH SEAFOOD?
Are you more of a rosé, or even a red wine drinker, and don't think you can go with seafood? Admittedly, fish and shellfish and red wines are not the most common pairings, but nothing is off limits. It's the tannins that irritate the palate when combined with iodine flavours. This pairing is therefore not recommended. But that doesn't mean it's impossible! For red wine lovers, choose this fruity Alsace Pinot Noir with light, delicate tannins.
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