“Oysters are a celebration…romantic, sexy, luminous…
The right wine makes them even more so.”
Sheila Lukins

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”

“A Good Café on the Place St. Michel”
from A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway

Judging at San Francisco were John Finger, President of Hog Island Oyster Co., (at left) and Mike Dunne of the Sacramento Bee (right).

SEATTLE: Thirty-seven oyster-loving food and wine writers, restaurateurs, oyster growers and oyster lovers at-large have selected ten equal winners from 20 finalist wines in the 2007 Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, a popular annual dating service to find the best West Coast wine matches for oysters. Three Oregon and seven California white wines, including five crisp Sauvignon Blancs, three bright, refreshing Pinot Gris, a dry Chenin Blanc and a crisp, unoaked Chardonnay prevailed over 185 entries in the only wine competition to judge a wine by how it goes with a food.

Last week Taylor Shellfish Farms of Shelton, WA, sponsor of the Competition, announced the 2007 Oyster Award winners.

 

2007 Oyster Award Winners

Brassfield Estate Winery 05 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

Dry Creek Vineyard 05 Sonoma County Fume Blanc (CA)

**Dry Creek Vineyard 06 Dry Chenin Blanc (CA)

**Geyser Peak Winery 06 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

Hall 06 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

**Kenwood Vineyards 06 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

*King Estate Winery 05 Signature Pinot Gris (OR)

*Martin & Weyrich Winery 06 Unwooded Chardonnay (CA)

Sweet Cheeks Winery 06 Pinot Gris (OR)

*Willamette Valley Vineyards 06 Pinot Gris (OR)

*Prior "Oyster Award" Winner
**Multiple prior "Oyster Awards"

Few wines go with oysters, a vibrant combination of minerals, sweetness and the sea. That is why the Competition identifies, on an annual basis, a group of great “oyster wines” that restaurants can offer with oysters on the half shell, an increasingly popular menu item. The Competition is organized by its founder, Jon Rowley.

Each year Taylor Shellfish Farms invites West Coast wineries to submit their best “oyster wines”, typically dry, crisp, clean-finishing white wines. Each wine is blind tasted with a Kumamoto oyster. The judge chews the oyster well, then smells and tastes the wine, then rates the “bliss factor”, the wine’s affinity for the oyster. In a weeklong Preliminary Judging at Anthony’s HomePort at Shilshole Bay in Seattle last month, five veteran Preliminary Judges consumed 1200 Kumamoto oysters in narrowing the contenders to 35 semi-finalists and then 20 finalists. The 20 finalists were tasted with oysters by panels of 12-13 judges April 24 at the Water Grill in Los Angeles, April 25 at One Market Restaurant in San Francisco and April 26 at Anthony’s HomePort at Shilshole Bay in Seattle.

Some of the competition judges claim they have the best job in all of food and wine. The Walrus and Carpenter never had it so good. “I wait all year for this”, says long time Los Angeles judge, LA Weekly restaurant critic and 2007 Pulitzer winner, Jonathan Gold.

With oysters on the half shell enjoying fast-growing nationwide popularity, Oyster Award winners receive immediate and substantial sales benefits and publicity. “The search for wines to go with oysters adds to the excitement and culture of oysters”, said Bill Taylor, president of Taylor Shellfish Farms. “The acclaim by the wine and restaurant industries as well as the media makes it lots of fun for everyone.”

 

2007 FINALS JUDGES

LOS ANGELES
Lou Amdur, Proprietor, Lou’s Wine Bar
Peter Birmingham, Sommelier, Il Grano
Bob Blumer, aka The Surreal Gourmet
Jonathan Gold, Restaurant Critic, LA Weekly; 2007 Pulitzer for Criticism
Stacie Hunt, NPR Wine Journalist
Steven Infield, Manager, Water Grill
Mary Sue Milliken, Chef/Owner, Border Grill and Ciudad restaurants, cookbook author, radio and TV personality
Russ Parsons, Food Writer, Los Angeles Times; Author
Dan Fredman, Dan Fredman P. R. & Marketing
William Rice, Contributing Editor, Sante
Tim McDonald, Wine Spoken Here
El Don Turner, Food & Lifestyle Editor, Estylo Magazine

SAN FRANCISCO
Jon Bonne, Wine Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
Jerry DiVecchio, Writer, food-wine-life
Michael Dunne, Food Editor, Wine Columnist, Restaurant Critic, Sacramento Bee
John Finger, President, Hog Island Oyster Co.
Gilian Handelman, Wine & Spirits Magazine; Paul Marcus Wines
Millie Howie, Wine Writer
Michele Anna Jordan, Press Democrat; Wine Enthusiast; “Mouthful” KRCB-FM
Jan Newberry, Senior Editor, San Francisco Magazine
Robert Thompson, Wine Writer
John Hulihan, Director of Beverage and Service, Lark Street Restaurant Group
Steve Pitcher, Contributing Editor, Wine News
Eric Quanstrom, Director of Marketing, Appellation America
Tim TeichGraeber, Wine Writer; San Francisco Chronicle; Minneapolis Star-Tribune; Cooking Pleasures

SEATTLE
Angela Allen, Freelance Writer
Tom Arthur, Senior Manager, Elliott’s Oyster House
*David Bailey, Consulting Sommelier
Shannon Borg, Lifestyle Editor, Seattle Magazine
*Chuck Hill, Wine Writer; Author; Publisher, Joy of Oysters
*Doug King, Metropolitan Market-Sand Point, Wine Steward; Anthony’s Oyster Games Hall of Fame
Richard Kinssies, Proprietor, Wine Outlet; Wine Columnist, Seattle P.I.
*Dan McCarthy, Proprietor, McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants
Craig Miller, “Wine Guy”, Top Foods
Bill Taylor, President, Taylor Shellfish Farms
*Gerry Warren, Judging Committee Chair, Seattle Wine Society
Oyster Bill Whitbeck, Taylor Shellfish Farms; co-author, Joy of Oysters
*Preliminary Judge

For further information on the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition go to www.oysterwine.com or contact Jon Rowley rowley@nwlink.com 206-963-5959.