You would be hard pressed to find a pairing that works better in warm weather than the sipping of light summery wines while slurping down freshly shucked oysters, evidenced by the dozens of tastemakers that headed out to Williamsburg on Wednesday evening. Brooklyn Winery‘s naturally lit atrium space was filled to capacity surrounded by buckets of ice, empty oyster shells and a sea of wine corks as the ornately decorated room would host a sold out “Oyster & Wine Pairing Party.”

The Winery space is truly a hidden gem in a neighborhood replete with many of them- but there’s no place quite like Brooklyn Winery anywhere in New York City. Despite the evening’s 6:30pm start time, the atrium was brightly lit by the remaining sunshine- only adding to the festive nature of the already tasteful affair. The room was arranged in wine and oyster pairings where guests were handed a tasting glass and given free rein to parade around the room at their leisure and enjoy some of the local fare being offered.

With glasses in hand, we immediately approached the sole ‘red’ wine being poured and the Winery’s exceptional “Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon” immediately became our hands down favorite of the night. Beautifully bright, the crisp and refreshing wine offered an array of fruity notes on both the nose and in taste- but all the pretentious wine stuff aside- the ‘Rose’ was light, subtly sweet and repetitively drinkable. Just a really terrific Summer table wine. Paired with the “Rose,” we chatted briefly with our friend Eddie Casiano who was shucking the daylights out of dozens of “Rocky Reef Oysters,” a particularly sweet style right from Huntington Bay.

Though our palates danced with every salty slurp of the “Tomahawk” (chewy) and the “Blue Island” (crisp, sweet), it was the elegantly briny “Mermaid Cove Oyster” that was the evening’s highlight. Among the finest of all east coast oysters, it was perfectly balanced and succulent- and it paired well with pours of the Brooklyn Winery “Barrel Fermented Riesling” nearby. With grapes harvested from the Finger Lakes, the wine is both fermented and aged in oak barrels yielding a bit of a stronger acidity than we’re used to for these typically sweeter wines- but overall, the flavor profile worked just fine. The lighter “Stainless Steel Aged Chardonnay” was also seasonally refreshing with bouncy hints of white fruits and a pleasantly creamy finish as well.

The “Oyster and Wine Pairing Party” was an especially interactive experience for novice tasters in that it really gave folks the opportunity to examine the different elements of the wines and the distinction between oysters. Each of the four tasting areas were setup in ideal fashion to both promote conversation and minimize lines for guests- of which there were none. But just as it seemed we had arrived, the ninety minutes of tasting had flown by and it was time to head on home. Despite the smiles plastered on faces around the room- we sipped our last drop of wine and slurped down one final “Tomahawk” before joining the sentiment of the remaining guests with a collective ‘Aw, Shucks.’

- Jane Van Arsdale

“Tomahawk Oyster”

“Blue Island Oyster”

“Mermaid Cove Oyster”

“Rocky Reef Oyster”