Soft-Shell Crabs & Chenin Blanc

(aka heaven)

Soft-shell crab season is on its way out here in the southeastern United States, but earlier this week you could still find some from North Carolina at my local fish market. I love that it’s such a seasonal phenomenon that it slowly moves its way up the eastern seaboard as waters warm. I also love that it almost always coincides with my early April birthday so that it feels like a gift from mother nature herself.

In case you have missed out on this culinary delight here’s the short story. In the spring blue crabs molt their old exoskeleton, and for a short period of time are truly soft (meaning you can eat the entire crab)! (Now you understand why it’s a bit too much for some folks!)

But around my house we are ALL IN on soft-shells. We try to enjoy at least one or two meals out during their season where we can enjoy a deep fried version as I am not deep frying much at home these days. There’s something about the crisp, cracking crust of batter shattering open to reveal the sweet, juicy crab that feels pretty close to magic. However, I do also enjoy my simple pan frying technique at home. I just dust them in seasoned flour and give them a quick turn in my trusty cast iron skillet (just a few minutes on each side). (Do be careful as they love to pop while cooking!) Usually I serve with a salad straight from our garden as it’s also our season for lettuce, carrots, turnips, and radishes!

And to pair? Well, there are many options – Chardonnay, Muscadet, Champagne, even Sauvignon Blanc, which I rarely recommend (lol). But let’s stick with the obvious choice for me and the one pictured here – Chenin Blanc! I’ve written about Chenin before (click here) (not surprisingly as it is indeed my fave white grape). BUT I have not written about Chinon Blanc. Nope, that’s not a misspelling. Chinon is a region in the Loire that is actually most well known for Cabernet Franc. But you will find a little bit of Chenin as well. (Chinon is a subregion of the larger Touraine region if you really want to nerd out. Click here for a great map.)

Bernard Baudry has been making benchmark Cabernet Franc in the Loire region of Chinon since the 1970s and a TINY amount of Chenin Blanc. Bernard’s son, Matthieu, joined the family domaine in 2000 after studying winemaking in Burgundy and Bordeaux, with internships both in Tasmania and California! They farm organically and use minimal intervention in the cellar. My sniffing/tasting notes on this included bruised apple, lemon curd, chamomile tea, mountain stream, and toasted almonds! This one did have a little bit of age on it, probably enhancing some of that bruised fruit quality, but the Baudry wines do usually lean this direction.

As noted there’s not much Chinon Blanc to be found, but if you are a true Chenin addict (like me) then you owe it to yourself to also seek out this Baudry and also Domaine Olga Raffault. Raffault has some VERY old vines of Chenin that go into their “Champ-Chenin”, which is certified heaven!

Hopefully there are still some soft-shell crabs in your corner of the world and a nice bottle of Chenin of course 🙂– cheers!

P.S. If you live in the Charleston area, I did spot a tiny bit of this Baudry on the shelf at Wine & Company – 2023 vintage for $45 retail.

P.S. If you are just picking up the Grape to Table newsletter, thanks so much for joining to learn more about wine, food, and life. There’s lots to read – from my origin story (click here to read) to fun content focused on meaningful time at the table with delicious wine and food. For now, my newsletter is free and you can find all the content by clicking here – basically a little Grape to Table website created by the great folks at Substack. I did realize recently that you only see the various categories of past newsletters if you open this link in a browser (rather than the Substack app). It’s a shame because the categories make it easy to find content you might be interested in…so here are some more embedded links! Click here for Wine Tips. Click here for Recipes. Click here for Q & As. And click here to learn about my wine club! As always I really appreciate when you hit the like button as it helps get the content in front of more people :) and spread the joy of wine and food!

P.P.P.S. Please save the date if you live here in Charleston, South Carolina…on Saturday, May 31, from 3 to 6 (we changed the time slightly), I will be co-hosting a ROSÉ SHOWDOWN with my good friend Josh Walker, owner of Wine & Company (wine bar/bottle shop, corner of Meeting and Spring in downtown Charleston). This is going to be SUPER fun! We are still working out the details, but you can expect tasting time with Josh and myself, delicious rosé by-the-glass, and special rosé snacks curated by us.