Last Saturday we went to the Scallop Festival (Fête de la Coquille St.Jacques) at the seaside town Villers-sur-Mer, which is a charming spot full of quaint Belle Époque (late Victorian-Edwardian) villas. Stalls selling a wide range of articles as well as scallops were set up against this backdrop. Choice of stall is important for getting the best quality and we were lucky to hit upon a good one. We bought not only quite a lot of scallops (some sous-vide – translation?), but also some large prawns and a crab.
Consequently we have been enjoying this seafood during the week and have tried a number of wines as pairings. The intuitively best pairings did not always turn out be the best, e.g. the first below.
Scallops cooked in their shells with a white sauce (sauce blanche) and Parmesan gratings. The scallops were beautifully fresh with a slight firmness and nutty flavour a million miles away from the rubbery products found in supermarkets. However I thought that the Parmesan grating were a bit too assertive properly to bring out the scallops’ flavour.
2012 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Le Fort - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (10/25/2014)
I expect more from a wine signed Alphonse Mellot. It was crisp and showed tension and backbone but lacked the fruit and aromatic expressiveness that I found in a 2013 Sancerre from another producer tasted this afternoon. Perhaps in a closed phase? Just good.
Large prawns fried simply with a little garlic. The wine paring worked surprisingly well.
2008 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Abtsberg Riesling trocken Alte Reben - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (10/27/2014)
I have often felt that dry Mosel is too tart and in need of some RS for balance but not this wine. Both on nose and medium/light palate it has typical Ruwer fragrance, fleetness of foot and elegance. Yet it is genuinely dry with crisp non-astringent acidity, white fruit and flowers, minerals and a saline spine. When it was younger, I paired it successfully with oysters but I think that this last and the previous bottle had developed too much fragrance and beginnings of mature complexity for that role. Very good.
Scallops presented simply on a bed of chopped endives; much better IMO than the preparation with Parmesan gratings and also a better wine pairing.
2004 Meyer-Fonné Riesling Wineck-Schlossberg - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru AOC (10/29/2014)
The colour was light golden. There were typically Riesling white fruit, flower and lightly spiced aromatics in full bloom with mineral and hydrocarbon touches. The palate was linear in shape with a good spine and quite opulent with some RS, about 6-8g/l I guess, but there was lots of lively acidity with the result that the overall impression was dry, but far from bone dry, and very food friendly with some deliciously fresh scallops and Ste.Maure goat cheese. Very good.
Crab. I tried my newly purchased Loir Pineau d’Aunis with this. It worked.
2013 Domaine les Maisons Rouges Coteaux du Loir Garance - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Coteaux du Loir (10/30/2014)
I like this wine made from Pineau d'Aunis above all for its distinctive personality, unlike any other. It is light in colour and body but there is quite an intensity of aroma both on the nose and palate, which is marked by sour cherry and raspberry with a large sprinkling of pepper. The palate is linear with decent acidity, spine and grip on the finish and the overall effect is flavoursome and elegant even at this early age. Good+.