The best wine pairings for feta cheese

Since this baked feta and tomato pasta recipe went viral on TikTok a couple of years ago, feta has been on every home cook’s radar 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 should 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