Salads are reputed to cause problems for wine but not when they’re as complex and varied as the ones that are featured in Gordon Ramsay's column in The Times today.

Spiced bulgur wheat, courgette and goats’ cheese salad
A salad only in the sense that it’s served cold, in fact many of the ingredients - including potentially troublesome onion - are pre-cooked. In addition to the wheat the salad includes beans, sun-dried tomatoes and the Moroccan spice mix ras-el-hanout, ingredients that would steer me away from the Sauvignon Blanc the title of the recipe might suggest (which is why it’s always worth checking the ingredients list when you’re looking for a wine match). I’d go for a strong, dry southern French or Spanish rosé myself or even a lightly chilled, unoaked southern French red.

Tuna, chilli and fresh coconut salad
A typically south-east Asian combination of flavours that Gordon discovered on holiday in Mauritius (lucky old Gordon . . . !) There’s a bit of heat from the chilli and mustard seeds in the recipe but it’s not overwhelming. What will be noticeable is the effect of the lime. I’d go for a modern Australian white with this. Probably not Riesling as the lime will strip the limey flavours out of the wine - more likely a Verdelho or Verdelho blend. Or a Western Australian Semillon-Sauvignon

Gammon, pineapple, wild rice and runner bean salad
Just as I was writing in my blog that chefs never seem to write about pineapple these days, here comes Gordon with a recipe that features the classic but under-rated gammon and pineapple combo. There’s Tabasco and sesame oil in the dressing which gives it a fair kick so again I’d be heading Down Under, this time for a ripe Australian Semillon (Barossa rather than Hunter Valley, I’d suggest). Here the pineapple flavour in the dish is offset by the gammon, rice and spicy dressing so it works to highlight it in the wine.