Brett happens

…to bring you the following public service announcement.

Snow crab season officially opened in the Gaspé last week and the crustacean is now on sale at Montreal fishmongers, usually as cooked sections but sometimes whole and live. Though I got my sections yesterday at Nouveau Falero on Parc, the freshest, tastiest and least water-logged are usually found at the Délices de la Mer stall at Jean Talon Market. The sweet, delicate flesh is best savoured as is, unspoiled by so much as a drop of lemon juice or a dip in melted butter. For the quickest, easiest access to the meat, set aside the lobster crackers and pick up a pair of sturdy kitchen shears. The perfect accompaniment? Glass after glass of a less than bone-dry white. For example…

Vinho Verde 2011, Loureiro, Quinta de Gomariz ($15.30, 11895233)
100% Loureiro from 11-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Fermented five to seven days with native yeasts. Not allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation. Matured off the lees for two months. Sees only stainless steel. Filtered before bottling. 11.5% ABV.
Fresh and appealing nose of white grapefruit, lime, white sand, faint flowers and powdered honeycomb. Soft-textured and ever so slightly sprtizy. A flash of ripe grape and citrus on the attack quickly turns dry and gains some bitter pith that crescendos through the mouth. Crunchy minerals and tangy acid outlast the fruit on the long, rainwatery finish. The sour, bitter, quartzy aftertaste forces you back for another sip to get that momentary flash of sweet fruit, starting the cycle anew. Long but not broad or deep. A fresh, pure, thirst-slaking delight.

While this would make an excellent aperitif or summer sipper, it proved very good with the snow crab, whose sweet flesh surprisingly brought out the wine’s sweetness and increased its weight. That said, Gomariz’s more powerful Alvarinho would probably make an even better match. And, of course, as Hugh Johnson says, “crab and Riesling are part of the Creator’s plan.”