SALADS AND WINE: HOW TO PAIR THEM

Are you also late? Don't worry, we still have time. Suddenly August 98 has dawned and August hasn't even begun... There was no time to prepare for beaches and light clothes. But the war is not lost, anyway, when the heat begins, the stomach can't stand the many oily and "heavy" foods. In other words, besides the calorie part, you want to consume cool and light foods anyway. But you can't cut all the pleasures at once. Below we have paired cool salads (don't take the "greens" very seriously) with the appropriate wines. But don't overdo it, up to a glass is fine!

1. Salad with raw zucchini and feta cheese

Thin strips of raw crunchy zucchini, chopped green apple, mint and parsley, feta cheese, and a few black raisins, with a very good mixing make the coolest and most delightful summer salad. The salad has intense freshness, herbal aromas, and the perfect balance between salty and sweet elements. You will need a white of moderate acidity and body, which combines the freshness of the fruit, with a subtle botanical sensation. The Petroulianos 2023 from the Vatistas Vineyards is ideal.

2. Green Lola with gruyere and honey dressing

It's the salad that everyone will like for sure. Combination of salty, sweet, sour, but also with very different textures. The lola greens have a slightly bitter taste and this gives a special interest to the dish as a whole. The dressing contains honey to embrace the very little white vinegar that is added to give a sour and tart taste to it. Two Rivers white 2023 from the Samartzi Estate, has a subtle oily feel and aromas of tropical fruits, which will pair that very well.

3. Cretan Ntakos

This dish is now a salad, appetizer, main meal, and the easiest thing you can make in a minimum of time. The ingredients are always present in every kitchen and their nutritional value is enormous. The whole grain rusks are the perfect canvas to host the fresh fragrant tomato, the feta cheese with its oily element, the capers that are extra salty, and the oregano that gives something extra with the strong herbiness. Oil, salt, and a little pepper, and if you're a bit picky, add a few drops of lemon. Which wine would you put next to it? Simply, white. Apla white 2023 from Oenops (Apla in Greek means simply)to be exact! Malagouzia, Assyrtiko, and Vidiano coexist beautifully in a very fresh, fruity, and very enjoyable result.

4. Gemista Greek salad

The Greek gemista are probably the most classic and favorite summer food of the summer and while it is a bit tricky, we tell you that there is also an easy version. Without much effort, you chop all the vegetables, tomatoes, courgettes, eggplant, green peppers, and lots of parsley and cook them in the pan. Then you add some rice and water and as if by magic you've made gemista and you don't know it! You let it cool, add extra fresh parsley and of course serve it with feta cheese. The dish has a vegetal and intense fatty element because it is a salad, but it has its oiliness and needs a white wine with cool acidity, lemony aromas, and a slightly creamy feeling, such as Pavlos 2022 from the Antonopoulos Vineyards Variety Collection.

5. Green salad with melon, feta and basil

If you are one of those who enjoy feta cheese with melon, well done! Cool, strongly aromatic, with freshness of fruit and a subtle oily and salty element from the feta, in the most delightful balance. The salad is an almost folkloric combination of fruits and vegetables that is desperate for a white wine with fruit, vegetality, acidity, and medium body. Fortunately, there is Malagouzia 2023 from the Lykos winery to take it off.

Five salads, five wines, for five days, to make the week a little easier. At the weekend, it has a seaside tavern and food court, you can go wild freely!