Overall Winners:
White Graves, Chablis, Champagne, Muscadet
Like many fish dishes, most shellfish is light-flavoured, so it is the way in which it has been cooked that should determine your choice of wine. So here are two "overall winners" - a White Graves, Chablis or Muscadet for simply prepared fish, or a White Burgundy and Champagne for richer dishes.
Crab:
Viognier or White Graves
Crab has a distinctive, powerful flavour which requires a fruity, weighty wine such as a Viognier, Southern French white blend of Roussanne, Marsanne or a White Graves.
Langoustines and Prawns:
White Burgundy, Italian Whites
You could match the creamy-chewy flesh of Langoustines and Prawns with a White Burgundy or contrast it with an Italian Pinot Gris, Garganega (Soave), Trebbianno (Frascatti). Vermentino is a great match: widely planted in northern Sardinia but also found in Tuscan and Ligurian coasts. Its wines are particularly popular to accompany fish and seafood.
Lobster:
Champagne or Chablis
Lobster Mayonnaise is sublime with White Burgundy (Puilly-Fuisse, Puligny, Meursault), New Zealand Chardonnay a mature dry White Graves, but if you plan to serve it plain then Champagne or Chablis are great choices.
Oysters:
Muscadet, dry Champagne, Chablis
The briny, salty, steely flavours of oysters require crispy, dry, stony, minerally or flinty wines such as Muscadet de Sevre et Maine, Champagne and Chablis. Also worth trying the Languedoc’s perfect oyster match: Picpoul de Pinet.
Scallops:
Grüner Veltliner or a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc
Grüner Veltliner has the spice intensity to stand up to complex flavours in dishes like scallops with chilli and garlic. Albarino could also be a match.
Moules Marinieres:
Muscadet, White Graves
Moules Mariniere is perfect with a Muscadet that has been aged on its lees or a White Graves.