The following comes from a friend of mine, and you'll understand the need for anonymity. She's a food writer who was at an oyster roast in the Pacific Northwest when someone pronounced that the reason Pacific oysters are superior to all others is that the region produces wines to match them.
My friend, of course, was speechless. "This made me think of you," she emailed. "Not surprisingly, he'd never heard of Texas wine." In fact, Texas has oysters from the Gulf Coast and wine to match, like dry blanc du bois and rose.
The Wine Curmudgeon can't decide what's more annoying: That someone who pretends to be a wine expert doesn't know that there is wine made in regions outside of his tiny, insular world, or that he knows as little about food and wine pairings as the character in Annie Hall knows about Marshall McLuhan. (Yes, I'll post the clip at the end of this.)
Because, according to this logic, oysters from Louisiana — which I happen to think are the best in the world, courtesy of the late, great Mr. Jutz — are irrelevant because there isn't Louisiana wine to go with them. Or that Maine lobsters are somehow lacking because there is no matching Maine wine. Or, to look at this illogic from the other side, that Loire wines aren't quite as good as they could be unless you can find Loire shellfish to go with them.
Where is Marshall McLuhan when you need him? After the jump, courtesy of drkatzjr27 at YouTube.
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