We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
menu. One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
parsely puree". I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
so any ideas?

There is only one choice. Garlic wine from Rapazzini Winery in Gilroy, CA



Bi!! wrote:
> We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> menu. One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> parsely puree". I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> so any ideas?

On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> so any ideas?

Not sure what a marble is! But classic combo for snails with butter,
parsley, and garlic (a Burgundian dish) is Chardonnay. I wouldn't
break out a big Montrachet (even if I owned one), but maybe a Macon.
I'd think:
crisp
no or light oak
for my tastes.

On Apr 19, 6:48 pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> menu. One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> parsely puree". I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> so any ideas?

If the garlic is well roasted or otherwise long cooked it tends to be
rather mild and might work with a fairly full dry wine such as
Chardonnay as Dale Williams suggested. If the garlic is raw or perhaps
just briefly warmed, it can be very sharp and overcome nearly any
wine. I might use a dry white I wanted to get rid of, since the
garlic will hide it so well that you will not be likely to tell if you
have a quality wine or not if you first taste the wine after eating a
bit of the garlic.

I see no reason why one must try to match a wine to a dish always.
Beer, and even vodka or aquavit will work well with many foods with
extreme intensity. I think I would like to experiment with aquavit or
an eau de vie de sapin, houx or gentiane. These very herbal plant eau
de vie can be very difficult to find in the US. They are bone dry,
very intense, and can be about as strong as some of the lighter
vodkas. They need to be served ice cold, and about an ounce or two is
plenty. But I would not go to the extreme of Devils Springs vodka,
even if the garlic is raw . At 160 proof, or about 80% alcohol, it
will live well up to the name, even if served ice cold. Even a classic
Martini cocktail might work well - just gin, dry vermouth and perhaps
a twist of lemon or a bit of bitters, or perhaps an olive. If you use
a pickled tiny onion, it becomes a Gibson.

On Apr 19, 9:47Â*pm, DaleW > wrote:
> On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
>
> > We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> > menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> > parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> > so any ideas?
>
> Not sure what a marble is! But classic combo for snails with butter,
> parsley, and garlic (a Burgundian dish) Â*is Chardonnay. I wouldn't
> break out a big Montrachet (even if I owned one), but maybe a Macon.
> I'd think:
> crisp
> no or light oak
> for my tastes.

It's a snail wrapped en croute with the garlic and parsely butter
inside along with the snail.

On Apr 20, 7:58Â*am, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> On Apr 19, 9:47Â*pm, DaleW > wrote:
>
> > On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
>
> > > We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> > > menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> > > parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> > > so any ideas?
>
> > Not sure what a marble is! But classic combo for snails with butter,
> > parsley, and garlic (a Burgundian dish) Â*is Chardonnay. I wouldn't
> > break out a big Montrachet (even if I owned one), but maybe a Macon.
> > I'd think:
> > crisp
> > no or light oak
> > for my tastes.
>
> It's a snail wrapped en croute with the garlic and parsely butter
> inside along with the snail.

The pastry probably "smooths" the dish a bit, so you could probably
safely do a bigger/better white with that dish, in my humble opinion.

On Apr 20, 5:58 am, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> On Apr 19, 9:47 pm, DaleW > wrote:
>
> > On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
>
> > > We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> > > menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> > > parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> > > so any ideas?
>
> > Not sure what a marble is! But classic combo for snails with butter,
> > parsley, and garlic (a Burgundian dish) is Chardonnay. I wouldn't
> > break out a big Montrachet (even if I owned one), but maybe a Macon.
> > I'd think:
> > crisp
> > no or light oak
> > for my tastes.
>
> It's a snail wrapped en croute with the garlic and parsely butter
> inside along with the snail.

It sounds as if the dish uses classic "snail butter" but the snail and
compound butter is stuffed in pastry rather than in a snail shell.
Much snail butter uses quite a bit of finely chopped raw garlic. The
time required to cook the pastry will cook the garlic a bit and much
of the flavor will be diluted by soaking into the pastry. Thus I would
expect the garlic to be less sharp than raw garlic.. Also how much
garlic is used is quite important. If you can not sample the dish
before your dinner, then it might pay to have two drinks available.
Then you can taste one of the snails in pastry before it is served and
decide which wine or other beverage to open before the guests are
served. Given the experiments many chefs make today, he/she might use
just a tiny bit of garlic, perhaps long cooked, to make the garlic
butter, or might use about as much raw garlic as butter used.

Hugh Johnson notes several French matches for snails in his 2008
Pocket Wine Book. However how close your snail dish will be to those
eaten in any region of France is unknown. He suggests Rhone reds, such
as Gigondas or Vacqueyras, or St-Veran or Aligote. He says that in the
Midi, local Petits-Gris go with the local white, red, or rose wines.
In Alsace he mentions Pinot Blanc and Muscat.

On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> so any ideas?

Almost experimented for you last night. Little French restaurant,
Betsy not really drinking, a half bottle of Macon-Villages. For my
appetizer I almost got escargots, in the classic Burgundian garlic
butter. But the garlic sausage with lentils won out. Look forward to
seeing what you do and how it matched.

On Apr 21, 8:25Â*pm, DaleW > wrote:
> On Apr 19, 8:48�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
>
> > We're having a dinner next saturday and the chef just sent over the
> > menu. �One of the items is a "marble of escargot with garlic and
> > parsely puree". �I've never known what to match with snails and garlic
> > so any ideas?
>
> Almost experimented for you last night. Little French restaurant,
> Betsy not really drinking, a half bottle of Macon-Villages. For my
> appetizer I almost got escargots, in the classic Burgundian garlic
> butter. But the garlic sausage with lentils won out. Look forward to
> seeing what you do and how it matched.

Thanks to all for suggestions. I've been turley hunting for the past
few days and I'll let you know on Sunday what I chose and how it
fared.