Do you know how hard it is to find Irish wine?

However, let’s honour good old St. Patrick anyway. Here are a few ways you can celebrate the Irish patron Saint. Have fun everyone.

MAKE IT GREEN!

Let us begin with the obvious… Celebrating St. Patty’s day always makes me want to be Irish at least for a day and that means to me…go green!

My first thought is to enjoy a Vinho Verde (Portuguese wine) which literally means “green wine” and refers to its’ freshness and youthfulness, not its’ colour.

Why not just use a green glass and put whatever your heart desires in it and say ” Sláinte” (Irish Cheer).

How about taking a white wine and adding a few drops of green food colouring. They do this with beer, don’t they, so why not wine. The dye will not affect the nose or taste, but it wouldn’t score well in an international wine competition. But don’t do it with red wine, it just makes a really weird colour, trust me.

It may take some time to search out but on March 17th , only open wine bottles that use green coloured corks. YES, they are out there, but find the green synthetic corks if you are planning on popping a green cork. Green natural corks are probably not a good thing.

When I think of this wonderful Irish celebration, what comes to mind are images of a four leaf clover, a leprechaun or even snakes following a man with a flute. So why not buy a bottle of wine that has one of these pictures on the label.

And of course we must match a wine to traditional Irish fare.

CORNED BEEF: Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir

BANGERS AND MASH: Pinot Grigio, Shiraz

LAMB STEW: Merlot, Malbec

FISH AND CHIPS: Pinot Grigio, Blush or Rosé

And my favourite… I asked for some St. Patty’s day wine ideas in my store and my favourite response was:

“Isn’t Saint Patrick Day wine called Guinness?” (Thanks for that Patty T.)

Happy St. Patty’s Day everyone and have one for me.

Cheers!