Valley, valley, valley

T

Thor

Thor Iverson
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Island Creek Oyster Stout (Massachusetts) Yes, stout. Yes, the unmistakable saline tang of oysters. I like stout. I like Island Creek oysters. I dont like stout with oysters. So the merits of this wine are lost on me. (3/10)

Ridge 2005 Three Valleys (Sonoma County) 74% zinfandel, 13% petite sirah, plus little bits of carignane, grenache, and mataro. 14.2% alcohol. Dead, flat, stripped aromas of dark berries and wan, over-oxidized spiceslike pepper that was ground three years agowith a sad gesture at structure. Very, very tired. This wine has never been any good, and is frankly a bit of an embarrassment among the Ridge stable. (3/10)

Green Point 2006 Shiraz (Victoria) Syrah demiglace, concentrated to the extent that licorice and jam dominate both nose and palate. A little bit volatile. Theres nothing here other than severely reduced (I dont mean chemically, but as one would concentrate a sauce) fruit. No structure is evidence, though Im sure theres some lurking somewhere underneath the infantry assault. If youve ever looked at a porn star and thought, well, shed be more attractive if her implants were bigger, this is the wine for you. (3/10)
 
Agreed on the three valleys, it's no good fresh either. If Ridge wants a cheap entry level zin they should buy Sobon Estate or something - I agree with you that this wine can do them no good.
 
I thought Oyster Stout was just a local Portland thing. I trust my neighbor who says Upright Brewing's new Oyster Stout is really good. I just can't get over the idea of mixing two wonderful things that sound great on their own but lousy together. Maybe I'll try it, but I'm afraid you'll end up right...again.
 
originally posted by Vincent Fritzsche:
I thought Oyster Stout was just a local Portland thing. I trust my neighbor who says Upright Brewing's new Oyster Stout is really good. I just can't get over the idea of mixing two wonderful things that sound great on their own but lousy together. Maybe I'll try it, but I'm afraid you'll end up right...again.
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Hmmmm. I have liked drinking stout with oysters. I have liked drinking beer with spicy food. But I have never liked spicy beer. Combining complements doesn't work.
 
Spicy beer? You mean like Belgian wit, or do you mean that Mexican stuff with chiles? I tried that for a clumsily-spiced Cinco de Mayo dinner once, at the local zillion-beers-on-tap & two-zillion-beers-in-bottle joint. Not a good idea. Milk stout was a much better counterpoint.

I've realized over time that my tastes regarding oysters are finicky to the point of insane and antisocial persnicketyness. For example, I actually don't think that any wine really goes with oysters (the ones that sorta do are a best-of-a-bad-situation sort of thing). Nor stout. Nor beer. Nor any alcohol I've yet encountered. I hate mignonette with oysters. Lemon's OK, but I'd rather have a drop of lime. Tabasco is an abomination. If the liquor's been poured off, I'd rather not have the oyster at all. I learned this past winter that I hate fines de claire, which taste like the void, but with less flavor. And yet, I think nothing of tucking into four dozen (good) oysters at a single sitting, usually leaving hungry and wishing for a fifth.

So don't go by me.
 
Have you tried folle blanche bubbly? Well, specifically Landron's Atmospheres (and it's got a bit of pinot in it as well). Worked gloriously with raw oysters for this consumer..in fact I had to try it again just to make sure it was as good as it was that first time. It was.
 
I've tried a sparkling wine from a Muscadet producer, but not that one. I'll give it a shot, should I see it and be in the proximity of bivalves, but I'm dubious. I don't think the difficulty resides with the wines.
 
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