The best wine pairings for feta cheese

With that baked feta and tomato pasta recipe going viral on TikTok, feta is certainly having a moment but what sort of wine do you pair with it?

Greek wine is the obvious starting point particularly white wine which suits its sharpness and saltiness and the sort of ingredients you pair with it such as tomatoes, olives and courgettes (zucchini). But you can also consider wines from further afield.

5 white wines to pair with feta cheese

Assyrtiko and other greek whites
The traditional Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumber onion and olives is the classic pairing for an assyrtiko or assyrtiko blend. It will also work with other salads such as watermelon and feta salad and with whipped feta. With a baked feta dish you might want a Greek white with a touch of oak or a slightly older vintage.

The best food pairings for assyrtiko

Spain’s albarino and Portugal's alvarinho also have that clean fresh sharpness that would suit feta-based dishes well as would . . .

. . .English Bacchus and . . .

. . .Greco di Tufo
Another good option from the south of Italy. Try Etna's carricante too.

Citrussy sauvignon blanc
I’m thinking particularly of Bordeaux sauvignon and sauvignons from Chile with their lemon and grapefruit character rather than the fruitier examples from New Zealand or more mineral sauvignon blancs from the Loire (but, hey, if Bacchus, why not?)

Dry rosé
Especially with feta salads. But then rosé goes with practiclaly everything salady. There’s some good rosé from Greece these days to explore.

Does feta go with red wine?
It would be fine especially if you’re combining feta with aubergine (eggplant) or red meat. I’d choose a bright breezy red with good acidity such as a young syrah or a mencia or with this warm lamb salad with a pea, mint and feta cheese dressing, try a cabernet franc. (Basically you match the lamb not the feta.)

What about sweet wines?
Roasted with honey, as in this recipe in the New York Times, I’d choose a sweet wine like a Samos or southern French muscat though they recommend a drier white. Depends at what what stage you're having it, at the beginning or end of the meal.

If you're a baked feta fan you might also enjoy this recipe for Simit with lemon and thyme-baked feta

Photo © Fiona Beckett

The best food pairings for assyrtiko

There are few grapes that bring Greece to mind like Assyrtiko, the saline wonder of the Cyclades. But what do you pair with it? As often, the answer depends on the winemaking style and terroir, because there is not one Assyrtiko (I should know, I recently tried 80 of them.)

What to pair with Santorini and Santorini-like dry Assyrtiko

This is the canonical take on the variety, all salt and lemon and Aegean breeze, from producers like Hatzidakis, Tselepos, or Gaia in Santorini, and Volacus in Tinos. You’d struggle to find a white better suited to Greek cuisine.

Fiona has wisely recommended courgette fritters for this in the past, and she is spot on. Assyrtiko is a natural match for almost any take on fried vegetables, from tempura to pané. Its platonic match, however, is fried seafood. Greece has something like six varieties of small fish, deep fried and eaten whole, all of which seem to show up as "smelt" or "anchovy" in online dictionaries. Naturally, bigger types of fried fish also work (e.g. mackerel in the summer, red mullet in the winter). It is similarly great with other seafood, think shrimp, prawn, or squid. (This year I must have cooked this calamari recipe by Greek super-chef Akis Petretzikis around 10 times.) Fritto misto is also a natural, if not geographic, match.

More off-piste, many people have it with roast lamb and lemony potatoes, or even kleftiko. I am not the biggest fan (I'll always reach for a Xinomavro first for lamb), but it does work. I much prefer it with roast chicken with lemony potatoes, though the chicken must be really good – proper Assyrtiko doesn’t do bland. I also have it regularly with papoutsakia, a moussaka-like dish with fried aubergine stuffed with beef mincemeat and topped with mornay. It might sound counter-intuitive going for a white, but the mincemeat should be cooked with minimum tomato and the spices are more Middle Eastern (cinnamon, clove, maybe a hint of allspice) than Italian, while the mornay is made with sharp and salty cheese (usually kefalotyri, similar to pecorino, or the milder kefalograviera – its etymological parent gruyère makes a good alternative).

Speaking of moussaka, the more creative Greek chefs seem to have reinvented it in recent years to make it more like a ratatouille, topped with beef mincemeat and bechamel sauce – another excellent match. Stuffed peppers and tomatoes, a Greek classic, also work well, especially in their "gialantzi" (i.e. meat-free) version.

Greek salad, all acidity from the tomato, sharpness from the onion, saltiness from the olives, and tanginess from the feta, obviously goes without saying. Have some sourdough handy to mop up the olive oil and tomato juices.

Santorini Assyrtiko with some age and/or oak fermented

“Aged wine” tends to conjure images of dusty cellars and hyphenated surnames, but most Assyrtiko peaks at 5 to 7 years, so "some age" isn't as daunting here as elsewhere. When talking about top producers like Argyros, Karamolegos, Sigalas, or Vassaltis, you're looking at noble wine, which needs similarly noble food.

The first match Greeks would recommend is roast or BBQ-ed fish, anything from bigger wild sea bass & sea bream (above the 1kg mark) to the kings of the Aegean, white grouper and dentex. As the last two are rarely available in the UK, you can think of other rich white fish, such as halibut or turbot. Dover sole cooked meunière is as close as I would get to something fried.

Stuffed roast squid also works wonderfully well (I do a version with bulgur and herbs, maybe a bit of onion or bell pepper if the fancy strikes me), as does roast octopus (popular in Greece served with a yellow split pea mash). Seafood risottos (e.g. with cuttlefish ink paste, with prawns, with langoustines) are all excellent matches, as is black spaghetti with scallops, a particularly good combination if you plan an Italian-style dinner for two with primo and secondo.

Finally, a pro tip: fine Assyrtiko that has just started to go (i.e. past peak, but still alive) is a brilliant match for sushi, especially sashimi.

Nykteri

This is a Santorini specialty, a rich and concentrated take on Assyrtiko, with much less (or no) salinity, which, to my palate, is more off-dry than dry. Most producers make one, but Santo’s is better value for money than most.

This is the rare take on Assyrtiko that is not so much at home in Greek cuisine as further afield. The mix of sweetness and acidity makes it a great match for many Asian dishes - think of what you would serve with premium off-dry Riesling, but better.

Assyrtiko from the Greek mainland and other Islands

Assyrtiko plantings have exploded the past decade all over the country, so speaking of a “mainland” style is a bit tricky, covering so many terroirs and so many styles. You can find anything from sparkling Assyrtiko (not entirely unlike an English sparkling wine), to orange/natural/resinated Assyrtiko, to heavy, intentionally oxidised Assyrtiko.

In broad-brush terms, mainland Assyrtiko is more fruity and less acidic, less unique but (much) gentler on the wallet. Anything you would serve with a fruitier Albariño, you could serve with most of those. They are also excellent with some classic salads, such as Niçoise or Chicken Caesar.

Assyrtiko from islands outside the Cyclades, like Crete or Chios, seems to hover somewhere between the Santorini and mainland styles, so it’s a good alternative if you find Santorini too intense or too expensive.

Assyrtiko/Malagousia blends

Very popular in Greece, though under-the-radar abroad, this is a blend where Malagousia is meant to provide the sweetness, while Assyrtiko contributes intensity and structure. The result is offer sweet and sour, which I confess rarely works for me, but everyone else seems to like it. Gerovassiliou's Estate white is the originator of the blend, and still the leading example of the style.

To my mind, this style is an ideal aperitif, while I have also enjoyed it with some fruit with a bit of acidity (think under-ripe peaches or nectarines). People seem to be happy with it with watermelon and feta salads and I can see that working, but as I don't eat watermelon with feta, I’m unable to provide first-hand experience.

Interestingly, the most success I've had with this style foodwise, was a Japanese-inspired salmon-and-kale rice bowl, and I suspect anything down that direction would work too.

Vinsanto

Assyrtiko is responsible for one of the great sweet wines of the world, Vinsanto (not to be confused with Italy’s Vin Santo and Vino Santo). The best examples are a very serious affair (when I’m rich, I’ll organise a comparative tasting of Argyros 20yo Vinsanto against Chateau d’Yquem), so some walnuts or a small piece of high quality dark chocolate is more than enough. Young and simpler takes are a great match for caramel- or toffee-based desserts (sticky toffee pudding would be a treat), or some cakes (the Italian Torta della Nonna comes to mind). The mid-range (aged 6 to 8 years) is marvellous with the myriad baklava-style sweets, which I so adore, being sweet enough to match the syrup, but with an acidic kick that cleanses the palate – and into the next sweet I dive!

See also Peter's piece on Why Greek Wines go with more than just Greek Food

Assyrtiko and cold herb soup

Image credits:

Fried anchovies by Orlio at Shutterstock.com

View from Santorini by Santorines at shutterstock.com

Which wines to pair with calamari/squid

Calamari or squid is often served as a starter or appetiser with other dishes so you need to bear that in mind when you’re choosing a wine to pair with it. It also depends on the way you prepare it.

Except when it's cooked with red wine I'd say that almost any crisp citrussy white would work, sauvignon blanc being the obvious option but plenty of French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese whites would work too: Picpoul, albarino, Rueda, vinho verde - squid is really white wine-friendly.

Fried calamari or chipirones

Fried food is great with anything fizzy so a sparkling wine such as cava or a crémant would be perfect. Or if it’s part of a selection of Greek mezze, a crisp citrussy white like Assyrtiko. Chilled manzanilla sherry would also be brilliant especially with Spanish-style chipirones (baby squid).

Salt and pepper squid

A popular dish in Chinese restaurants. It may be more or less spicy but a dry riesling should work really well or, if it includes other Asian flavours as in this dish of this crispy chilli lime squid with edamame bean and coriander salad - maybe a pinot gris.

Chargrilled squid

Often squid is cooked on the grill or over an open fire which makes the dish more robust. A slightly richer white such as a good albarino can handle that. A Provençal rosé - especially a Bandol rosé - would also be great.

Braised squid with red wine

A chef friend of mine used to cook a dish of squid with red wine, orange and fennel which definitely made it a red wine rather than a white wine dish. A juicy Spanish red such as Bobal or a young rioja would work really well

Risotto nero, squid ink linguini and other dishes with squid ink

Squid ink adds a savoury, slightly saline boost to a dish but basically it’s a case of the same type of crisp dry white. Something like a Greco di Tufo or a Rueda as in this pairing from a Spanish holiday a couple of years ago. Albarino should work well too as you can see from this pairing with arroz negro.

And if you want to try cooking squid for yourself try this delicious recipe for Barbequed brochette of prawns, squid and courgette with sauce vierge.

Photo ©rondon at fotolia.com

The best wine matches for sardines

Freshly caught grilled sardines are a treat at this time of year but how easy is it fo find a wine that will go with them? Look to the French and Portuguese for inspiration!

In the Languedoc, for example ‘sardinades’ - big communal feasts with chargrilled sardines as the centrepiece - are regular features of the holiday season accompanied by the local crisp Picpoul de Pinet.

In northern Portugal, you may be surprised to find they often drink red wine with them - the local dark frothy Vinho Verde - though white Vinho Verde, which also has a slight spritz, may be more to your taste as might its more upmarket manifestation alvarinho - the Portuguese cousin of Spain’s albarino

Other crisp white wines will work equally well - simple sauvignon blancs (especially from Bordeaux or the Loire), Muscadet, the sharp, lemony Basque wine Txacoli and assyrtiko from Greece though I’d personally steer clear of off-dry and aromatic wines such as riesling and pinot gris (sardines will make them taste sweeter) and oaky whites such as chardonnay.

And a good dry Provençal or Portuguese rosé will suit sardines just fine ...

Photograph © anjokan