WITH A SHOCK OF WIND AT HIS BACK, Wade Walker pointed a flat-topped boat west toward the mouth of Occohannock Creek.

In the distance, a curl of land formed a barrier between the gray-green creek waters and the Chesapeake Bay. Along the horizon, a tall stand of spindly pines tapered off, finally giving way at the point to a stubborn stubble of scrub.

Walker, whose family has long harvested oysters from Eastern Shore waters, nosed the boat into a cove rimmed with golden grasses and tangles of sun-bleached branches.

He stopped at a buoy, and his helper, Pooh Johnston, hooked a rope to it. Walker fired up the winch, which heaved a kitchen-table-sized cage of oysters onto the deck of the Shell Duck. Ropes dripped with seaweed, and the cage and the oysters shone with black-brown muck.

The men hosed off the cage, then opened the lid. Johnston selected an oyster and forced it open with a paring knife. It tasted rich and fresh and of the sea.

They moved about 100 yards west to the next cove, the one closest to where the creek meets the bay. The oysters growing there tasted just as rich but had a bit more brine.

That's the thing about oysters. Perhaps more than any other food, they taste like where they were grown.

STRAW, DRIFTWOOD AND TIN.  Sea breeze, seaweed and steel. Practiced palates describe the taste of oysters the way oenophiles describe wine.

The French term is "terroir," and it originally referred to the characteristics of vineyards - soil composition, climate and slope of the land.

Oysters all but inhale terrior, drinking in whatever water comes their way - as much as three gallons an hour - extracting oxygen and nourishment. And flavor.

"They're distinctive; every one of them is different," said Bernard Herman, professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina.

Herman recently harvested a bag of oysters from the end of his own Eastern Shore dock and brought it to an informal gathering of watermen in an old Bayford oyster house for a comparison tasting of bivalves.

That day, oysters from six bayside creeks and a single seaside spot were shucked and laid out on ice in aluminum trays.

All of the oysters were of the same species, Crassostrea virginica, the local native and the one grown up and down the Atlantic coast. Some of the creeks the oysters came from were no more than a mile apart.

Yet side by side, even novice oyster eaters could discern nuances in flavor, texture and appearance.

What makes them different? One oysterman posited that vegetation notes in oysters from Cherrystone Inlet might be caused by a high level of seaweed. The richness of an oyster from Westerhouse Creek was attributed to the vast salt marsh terroir. The fatness of another to a strong tidal flow.

But flavor also is affected by what's not there.

Tom Gallivan, who grows his brand of Nassawadox Salts in the creek beside the old oyster house, noted that the Eastern Shore is the only spot on the East Coast where shellfish is not affected by the freshwater - and pollution - of inland rivers.

"It's the great undiscovered terroir," said Herman, who has made Eastern Shore oyster tasting something of a hobby. "The breadth and depth is astonishing."

TEST YOUR OWN TASTEBUDS

George's Seafood, 347 Chesapeake Blvd., Norfolk, offers several varieties of oysters by the half dozen, dozen or 100-count box. Call (757) 858-5502 for availability.  Varieties earlier this week included: Sewansecott, Nassawadox Salts, Eastern Shore seaside wild oysters, Farm-raised Eastern Shore bayside oysters from Sandy Point, Farm-raised Lynnhaven oysters, Wild Lynnhaven oysters, James River oysters, Gulf of Mexico oysters

Several other local restaurants also offer a variety of oysters, including:

A.W. Shucks, 2200 Colonial Ave., Norfolk, (757) 664-9117

Catch 31 Fish House and Bar, 3001 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, (757) 213-3474,www.catch31.com

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, The Town Center of Virginia Beach, 211 Market St., Town Center, Virginia Beach, (757) 687-8686, www.mccormick andschmicks.com

Riverstone Chophouse, 8032 Harbour View Blvd., Suffolk, (757) 638-7990, http://riverstonechophouse.com

Big Easy Grill & Oyster Bar, 111 W. Tazewell St., Norfolk, (757) 227-6222, www.bigeasygrill andoysterbar.com

Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697, lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com