Our Sunniest Summer Sauvignon Blanc & Seafood Pairing

Calling all food and wine lovers! Get ready for one of summer's sunniest white wine and seafood combos. We're pairing the vibrant fruit flavors – and irresistible tropical perfume – of Bella Union's Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc with our favorite blood orange crab salad. This limited-release wine is artfully crafted from estate-grown fruit, and it's only available from us.

As for the crab salad recipe, it marries dungeness crab with bright blood orange and vinegar-pickled mushrooms chanterelle or hedge hog mushrooms. This easy seafood salad is one of our favorite culinary chameleons. Serve it in a sandwich, as an appetizer, straight from the bowl, and always with a glass of Bella Union Sauvignon Blanc. Cheers to summer white wine and fresh summer flavor!

Crab Salad with Blood Orange and Pickled Hedge Hog Mushrooms

Wine Pairing: Bella Union Sauvignon Blanc, Rutherford, Napa Valley

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

For the mushrooms

1 cup hedgehog mushrooms or chanterelles

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup rice wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon mustard seed

¼ teaspoon fennel seed

1-inch slice of ginger

1 whole garlic clove

4 black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tablespoons water

For the crab

1 pint fresh-picked Dungeness Crab meat

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

2 blood oranges

Method:

To pickle the mushrooms: Wash mushrooms. Heat a large pan over high heat and add olive oil. When olive oil is hot, add mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about five minutes, until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small stainless steel sauce pot add vinegar, mustard seed, fennel seed, ginger, garlic, black peppercorns, bay leaf, sugar, salt, and water. Bring to a boil then shut off and allow ingredients to steep for five minutes.

Place sautéed mushrooms in a jar or bowl and cover with the pickling liquid. Let cool to room temperature. Then, refrigerate until needed.

To prepare the crab salad: Go through the picked crab meat and discard any shell that may have been missed. In a large bowl add crab, chopped tarragon, chives, parsley, lemon juice, mustard, and good olive oil. Mix until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed.

Slice the top and bottom of each blood orange, so they sit level on your cutting board. Then, remove the rind. You want to remove all pith, without taking off too much flesh. Segment each orange: use a sharp paring knife and cut between the lines at angle, so that you have crescent shaped blood orange slices. Pro tip: Segment your oranges over a bowl, and save the juice that drips from each orange. Drop your segmented orange slices into the bowl and set aside.

Presentation:

This is where it gets fun! This crab salad is incredibly versatile. For easy appetizer-style crostini, top toasted baguette rounds with a dollop of crab salad, one to two pickled mushrooms and a blood orange segment. You can also replace your crostini with butter lettuce for crab salad lettuce cups. Planning a picnic? Slice a sandwich-sized baguette lengthwise, then generously pile the salad, mushrooms and orange segments onto one slice. Top with the second.

Or combine crab and mushrooms, garnish with blood orange and spoon it straight from the bowl. Just don’t eat the entire four-to-six person serving all at once!

Once you decide how you want to serve it, the decision on what to pair with is easy: the tropical perfume, fleshy white peach and golden plum flavors and citrusy acidity of Bella Union’s Estate Grown Sauvignon Blanc harmonize beautifully with the creamy crab salad and bright blood orange accents. A santé!