100 Wine Blogs, 100 Days Blog 40: Boston Seafood and Wine Pairing

Blog 40 Boston Seafood and Wine Pairing
Ye Olde Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in the United States with continuous service. It is also the oldest restaurant in Boston, MA. Open since 1826. I wanted to see what types of wines they offered on their menu, with them being the oldest continuous service restaurant.

By the glass, you can get Heidsieck Little Blue Top Champagne, which has a medium body, with fresh citrus notes, and nice toasty flavors. Frei Brothers Russian River and Redwood Creek Chardonnay both from California. Maso Canali and Bella Sera Pinot Grigio from Italy. Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Four Sisters Sauvignon Blanc, McWilliams Reisling, and McWilliams ‘Hanwood Estate’ Chardonnay and Shiraz from Australia. Canyon Road Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from California. Mac Murray Ranch ‘Sonoma Coast’ Pinot Noir from California. These are all offered by the glass but they have a more extensive list for those wanting to purchase a bottle at the table.

I also compared this with Skipjack’s Seafood Emporium’s wine menu. They served a few types of sparkling wines along with Chardonnay, Reisling, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and even Viognier. Their reds consisted of Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The majority of their selection consisted of light to medium bodied wines with only a few choices of heavy wines listed on the menu.

Boston is known for their seafood and most of the restaurants specialize in serving lobster, crab, oysters, mussels, scallops, clams and various types of fish. What I noticed when eating at many of the restaurants in the Boston area, is that the wine menu differed from wine menus that I was used to seeing in most other parts of the United States, where meat and not seafood is mostly served. The Boston restaurants had a larger variety of white wines and light or medium bodied red wines as well as sparklers, than the other areas of the country that do not serve seafood as their main dishes. Even in Florida where we have a lot of seafood, we still also serve a lot of meat and keep the heavier reds as a larger variety on our menus. What a refreshing selection of wines to be paired with Boston’s fresh seafood dishes!

You really didn’t think I was only going to drink beer while in Boston, did you?

Tell me what you would pair with your seafood dishes! I want to hear from you! Give me your thoughts!
Bon Vin!
Veronica