Chateau de Campuget Cuvee Prestige Voignier 2010 Selected Top Wine for Grand Central Oyster Frenzy

Sept. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- And the winner is…The champion wines paired with oysters from the East and West Coasts have been selected for the 2011 Grand Central Oyster Frenzy set for Saturday, September 24, at New York City’s historic Oyster Bar & Restaurant. Chateau de Campuget “Cuvee Prestige” Voignier 2010, Costieires De Nimes, Rhone, France, is the Grand Champion, and will highlight the seven wines served at the Frenzy.

The panel of seven expert media judges that selected the winners included: Lisa Carley, New York Wine Examiner;  Celia Cheng, FindYourCravings.com; John Grossman, freelance food journalist; Lisa Mamounas, Culinary Insiders;  Richard Rush, Oyster Information Newsletter;  Pervaiz Shallwani, Wall Street Journal; and Rachel Wharton, Edible Manhattan. The panel “painstakingly” selected the winners from a group of 28 wines while consuming volumes of East and West Coast oysters.  Oyster Bar GM Jonathan Young had previously narrowed down the entrants from an original list of over 100 wines.

While the champion wine hailed from France, it was Italy and Austria dominating the winners with four Italian and two Austrian wines comprising the top six from the East and West Coasts. The East and West Coast champs are: First Place East Coast— Fuchs Sauvignon Blanc 2010-Sudsteirmark-Leibnitz, Austria; and First Place West Coast—Tonnino Grillo 2010, Sicily.

Other top selections included: Second Place East Coast- Tenuta Rapitala Grillo 2010, Sicily, Italy; Third Place East Coast- Le Albare “Casale” Soave Classico 2009, Veneto, Italy; Second Place West Coast- Weingut Meinhard Forsteiter Gruner Veltliner 2010 Kogl, Kremstal, Austria; and  Third Place West Coast Feudi Di San Gregorio Lacryma De Christi, Campania, Italy.

About the Ninth Annual Grand Central Oyster Frenzy:  It’s an all day frenzy! It’s a Bi-Valve Bonanza!  Chefs Eugenia Bone, Joe Tuna and Patrick McMurray will share their gourmet wizardry with the public in cooking demos and tastings, the Professional Shucking Championships co-sponsored by Blue Island Shellfish Farms will be contested, the ”Slurp Off,” eating contest and a “beer shucking” showdown are among the highlights of the ninth annual Grand Central Oyster Frenzy all day Saturday, September 24, at the historic Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City.  

The Oyster Frenzy begins at 12:00 noon, and continues throughout the day.  Sixteen (16) varieties of oysters – eight from both the East and West Coasts – and, of course, the championship wines will be on the menu during the “Bi-Valve Bonanza” at the famed eatery located “below sea level” at Grand Central Terminal. General Manager Jonathan Young and executive chef Sandy Ingber, the venerable “Bishop of Bi-Valves,” will host the festivities, and Q104.3 Radio personality Shelli Sonstein will serve as Master of Ceremonies. For more information contact the Grand Central Oyster Bar at 212 490-6650 or www.oysterbarny.com.

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The Grand Central Oyster Bar first opened its doors in 1913, in what was then a brand new, state-of-the-art, Grand Central Station. With its cavernous architecture and sweeping white tiled ceilings, it evokes this old N.Y. in all its grandness.