Eschewing the Sports Bar this St. Patrick's Day
Written By: Romany Reagan on Fri, Mar 14th 2008
St. Paddy's day is right around the corner kids and I know what you're thinking, "Green beer! Green beer! Oh where, oh where, Romany, can I get my grubby 1/10th Irish-But-Just-For-Tonight-Off-The-Boat hands on some GREEN BEER?!?"
Well, too bad for you, because I'm not going to tell you.
Instead, like a good ¼ Irish Lass I'm going to give you a little history lesson about actual Ireland, not the Michelob/Paper Hat version. Oh calm down, it's still about booze, ok? It's about, you guessed it, WINE! "Wine," you say, "but it's so cold and foggy, how's that possible?" Well, by two ways: 1) Some vineyards in Ireland were positioned on south-facing slopes that maximize their sun exposure and had mineral tests done to find optimum soil areas. With these factors stacked in their favor, the fighting Irish could wrestle out some wicked whites, which unfortunately are rarely exported. So, unless you've racked up enough Virgin Atlantic miles to score a trip to Ireland this St. Paddy's then we'll be focusing our attention on the other way: 2) Irish expats who moved to France and America. They tip their hats to Hibernia, but take advantage of each area's more hospitable horticulture environs. They formed a group called the Wine Geese, which is a riff on the Wild Geese, the name for those who fled Ireland after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 to scatter across Europe. The area where the Irish did best is Bordeaux, there are many well-respected chateaux there that were Irish-founded!
Well, obviously, there's a lot more to it than that and I'm sure there's an Irish Wine historian right now clutching his Celtic knot inscribed glass with white-griped horror exclaiming, "The McGraths! Why isn't she talking about the McGraths!" Well, because I'm not. That was enough history for my purposes. Now onto the important part, which Irish wines to imbibe while you're less cultured acquaintances slug back beverages of... ahem... another hue:
For those with these means, these following Châteaux have Irish roots. Find a Bordeaux with these guys on the label and you're St. Paddy's Day kosher:
Château Lynch-Bages
Château Kirwan
Château Phelan-Segur
Château Siran
Château Pichon-Longueville de Lalande
Château de La Ligne
Château Langoa-Barton
For those without the means, still have some Irish fun with Bunratty Meade ($16 at Beverages & More) Feel mad Olde School Euro with some meade aka: honey wine!
Ok, ok fine.
(To make green beer simply dash in few drops of Blue Curaçao. It's a sticky-sweet liqueur, yes, but you use so little it doesn't affect the flavor. Oh come on, you thought they used green food coloring?? Try that and your guests will be going home alone.)
CHEERS!!!
