St Patrick's Day Wine

The traditional St Patrick's Day dinner is corned beef and cabbage and it might include other things like shepherd's pie and Irish soda bread. The traditional beverages with it are Irish brews and Irish whiskey. But, for some, they would rather drink wine.

Of course, that is permissible. But, if we do choose to drink wine, we must pair properly. And, not all of those foods are particularly wine friendly.

Let's consider what we have going on. The corned beef is salty and spicy, but the spices are not the traditional ones that we consider when thinking about wine. And, the cuts of meat typically used for corned beef are typically pretty fatty. And, the cabbage is, well the cabbage is cabbage. 

So, reading those descriptions, the first things that would come to mind red wines with lots of tannins. But, don't go there. In this case, the fattiness is not the traditional marbling of a steak and the saltiness is also not the steak type saltiness, but more of a briny saltiness. Rather than going tannic, we want to go somewhat acidic.

I would not pair white wine with this food, but if you must, you need a very food-friendly wine with good acidity. You do not want a powerful wine that will fight with the food, but rather an aromatic that will complement the food.

All of that is leading me to an American style inexpensive Riesling. Alternatively, go with an Assyrtiko likely from the Greek isle of Sanotrini whose naturally salinity will pair well with meal.

On the red side, my first choice is a grape that I don't happen to own, but it's Nerello Mascallese. This grape, indigenous to Sicily, produces a lighter red wine with decent, but not dense, tannins and good acidity. While we think of it as a great pizza wine, it might be a great pairing with corned beef and cabbage. Failing its availability, I like Pinot Noir, preferably not too heavy, Beaujolais, preferably not too light, or a Cotes du Rhone.

All this said, for me the feature of the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal is definitely the wine accompaniment. It makes me look forward to March 18, whatever happens that day.

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