Corned Beef Melts with Sweet & Sour Onions & Wilted Cabbage
This dish has acid, fat, a touch of sweetness and a lot of tasty flavors! For me, all roads point to a wine that is flavorful, but has enough crispness to tame the corned beef and a touch of sweetness to balance the onions. The winner is...Riesling! Riesling hits on all of those points. It is an aromatic grape, has lots of acidity and a bit of sweetness, depending on the brand. A dry Riesling could definitely work here and you'd find a bunch of great examples in Alsace, France and Austria, where they prefer the drier styles. However here I'd like a touch of sweetness since we do have the sweetness from the onions. A classic example of a German off-dry Riesling is the Dr. Loosen Riesling 2011 (for about $12). It is fresh, crisp and aromatic with some sweetness. I also recently had the Montinore Estate "Almost Dry" Riesling from Oregon and loved it. That organic estate is making beautiful wines at reasonable prices.