Pairing Wine With New York Strips

New York Strip Steak is a tender steak cut from the short loin of the cow. It has an intense flavor, great bite and rich marbling. The meat is often marinated in order to add lots of flavor and sometimes an acidic marinade tenderizes the meat as well.

Beef steaks usually pair well with robust, rich red wines with a good texture. While strip steak is a bit more tender, it still needs a good red wine to break the protein up and a good acidity to cut through the rich marbling. Go for a strong red wine, which is dry, with medium to high acidity, high tannins, medium to full body and a good core of black fruit aromas.

Wine Characteristics To Pair With New York Strip Steak

Characteristic	Detail
Sweetness	Dry
Acidity	Medium to High
Tannins	High
Body	Medium to Full Bodied Reds
Tasting Notes	Black fruit, red fruit, butter, smoke, vanilla, leather

Sweetness – Dry wines work really well with rich meats such as steak. There is no need for sugar in this pairing.

Acidity – Medium to high acidity will do well with meat cuts that have a rich marbling and a good fat content, as the acidity cuts through them.

Tannins – We would recommend having wines with a high level of tannins, that are well ripened, almost velvety.

Body – Medium to full in body would be a great choice, as the texture of the wine has to go head to head with the texture of the dish.

Tasting Notes – Primary notes with a core of black fruit, such as blackberry, black cherry and hints of red plum. Secondary aromas coming from oak aging will generally benefit the wine and the pairing as well. With a bit of age the wines develop tertiary notes of leather, meat, cedar and tobacco and all of these enhance the dining experience.

Best Red Wine To Drink With New York Strip Steak

There are a lot of wines that work well with red meat and they all share the same characteristics. It is definitely an easy choice to go for a red wine and that’s what we would recommend.
Look for wines that have a medium to high level of acidity, tannins, body and even flavor intensity. Here are our recommendations.

Cabernet Sauvignon from USA

Since we are pairing a New York Strip Steak, why not pair it with a Cabernet Sauvignon coming from the Finger Lakes in New York State. Cabernet Sauvignon is a perfect grape for rich cuts of beef as it has a high acidity level, high tannin level and a full body. Flavor profile consists of herbaceous notes and black fruit aromas, complemented with oak aging aromas. With age, lots of tobacco, cedar and leather come to the front.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape from France

Now these wines are an absolute banger. Most of the time Grenache is in the base of the wine but they are permitted to blend in 13 different grape varieties which makes these blends so complex. The richness of these wines comes out with age and that’s absolutely what you should try to get, an aged Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Black fruit with lots of red fruit aromas, signs of oak aging and lots of leather, cedar, tobacco and charred meat.

Nebbiolo from Italy

Nebbiolo, the king of Piemonte. Whether you get your hands on one from Barolo, Barbaresco or Gheme, even Gattinara the wines will be a treat. A tad more pale in color with more red fruit aromas, earthy notes and a bit of potpourri, these wines make a great pairing with steaks.

High acidity, high tannins, medium to full body and an amazing flavor intensity!

Touriga Nacional from Portugal

We are going to bring a little gem to your attention. Portuguese wines are often overlooked but that tends to be a mistake even wine professionals make. The wines are great, with a lot of intensity and power and almost always, a small price.

Touriga Nacional is a tannic grape variety grown in the Douro Valley where it is used to make single varietal wines or it is blended with Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao and many more.

Medium to high acidity, high tannin level, very full bodied with lots of black fruit, great with any steak.

Saperavi from Georgia

Another surprise, Georgia started making wine around 8 thousand years ago. They have an enormous history in making dark, dense, red wines aged in clay pots called Qvevri which are placed underground. Georgian wine is stellar and we recommend you try it. Finding one shouldn’t be hard and it won’t cost top dollar, so try your luck in finding these tannic, acidic, rich reds.

Hint: Decant them for an hour or two, it will make a difference.

Best Wine To Drink With New York Strip Steak

The wines we mentioned above and will mention below are great pairings for any beef steak, and they will work amazingly with New York Strip Steak. Full bodied, tannic and high in acidity, these wines will make your dining experience memorable and sophisticated.