TN: Winter Wines (Feb. 15, 2020)

originally posted by Lee Short:
I have that fishiness problem with scallops and damn near any wine I've tried. Anybody have a good pairing for scallops?
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Try albarino or picpoul. My local French resto serves picpoul with skate and it works nicely.

Or go all-in: retsina... because then you'll really have something to complain about.
 
Mark -- usually simply seared, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. But I seem to have the same problem no matter how they are prepped, the scallops taste awful and the wine gets clobbered. So I just go without for that course. IO'm 95% sure I've already tried both Chablis and Muscadet and they didn't work for me.

Jeff -- I'll give those a try at some point, thanks.
 
originally posted by Lee Short:
Mark -- usually simply seared, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. But I seem to have the same problem no matter how they are prepped, the scallops taste awful and the wine gets clobbered. So I just go without for that course. IO'm 95% sure I've already tried both Chablis and Muscadet and they didn't work for me.

Jeff -- I'll give those a try at some point, thanks.
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Bland de Noir from Pinot Noir can go really well with scallops.
 
originally posted by Lee Short:
Mark -- usually simply seared, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. But I seem to have the same problem no matter how they are prepped, the scallops taste awful and the wine gets clobbered. So I just go without for that course. IO'm 95% sure I've already tried both Chablis and Muscadet and they didn't work for me.

Jeff -- I'll give those a try at some point, thanks.
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That's a tough one, but good quality EVOO and lemon juice is bitter. I'd use butter and lemon for starters. I am not sure about the wine but perhaps a little lower in acidity, something like Verdicchio or whites from COS in Sicily. I don't like scallops so maybe others can help more. Fact is, when we lived in NC there was so much good fish available from the coast that sheepshead or black (or red) drum on the halfshell was always the first choice.
 
Seared in truffle butter, shave truffles over if you have them. Skip the lemon. Brings out the umami in the scallop, and makes them more wine friendly for me. Can be put over a small amount of fresh pasta or better yet, thin strips of fennel.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Lee Short:
Mark -- usually simply seared, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. But I seem to have the same problem no matter how they are prepped, the scallops taste awful and the wine gets clobbered. So I just go without for that course. IO'm 95% sure I've already tried both Chablis and Muscadet and they didn't work for me.

Jeff -- I'll give those a try at some point, thanks.
Click to expand...

That's a tough one, but good quality EVOO and lemon juice is bitter. I'd use butter and lemon for starters. I am not sure about the wine but perhaps a little lower in acidity, something like Verdicchio or whites from COS in Sicily. I don't like scallops so maybe others can help more. Fact is, when we lived in NC there was so much good fish available from the coast that sheepshead or black (or red) drum on the halfshell was always the first choice.
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Fiddling around with the salt levels can help with bitterness IIRC.

But maybe you just have bad luck with the intersection of your palate, scallops and traditional matches. I have a similar issue with Riesling/Gewurz and smoked salmon, turns very fishy on the finish regardless of wine style. I suggest trying less traditional matches - fino sherry, oaky Chardonnay (works for me with my smoked salmon issue), wood-aged Champagne, hard ciders in different styles, IPAs, Rose', Vermut...
 
Brett in 2014 Domaine? You scaring me, man. Mine were so deliciously irresistible on release that I finally had to hide the remaining bottles offsite, knowing how well these things can age. But whatever I drank early on was quite clean.

On the other hand, 2002 Breton Picasses last weekend did have brett. Someone had the wisdom to delay the second half of the bottle until the next day - it was quite lovely then. Funny thing about brett in this wine (having had clean bottles as well) is that it is a carrier for some insane quasi-Burgundian dirt, if you can tolerate the funk.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
On the other hand, 2002 Breton Picasses last weekend did have brett. Someone had the wisdom to delay the second half of the bottle until the next day - it was quite lovely then. Funny thing about brett in this wine (having had clean bottles as well) is that it is a carrier for some insane quasi-Burgundian dirt, if you can tolerate the funk.
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I’ve said many times I thought the Bretons lost their best wine when they lost access to this site, which IIRC was a metayage. It was always the most complex, the deepest, and also the most lifted in the stable.
 
originally posted by Lee Short:
I had brett in a number of 2002 Breton bottles. Put me off buying them for quite a while.
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Same.
The 2002 Clos Senechal was a real beauty of a Loire Cab Franc at 10.5% abv but a bunch of my bottles had the clove variety of brett.
 
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