This glorious sunshine has been good news for salad growers with sales of green leaves going through the roof. Here are three top tipples to accompany your salad SEMÉLI NASSIAKOS, MANTINIA, GREECE 2017 (FROM £9.95, THE WINE SOCIETY; LEA & SANDEMAN) According to the cutely named association of British Leafy Salad Growers, this has been quite the summer for lettuce, rocket et al, with record-breaking sales of some 18m lettuces a week – 40% higher than the equivalent peak-leafy-salad season this time last year. What to drink with all this green freshness? That rather depends on what other ingredients you’re adding to the bowl. A classic salad of leaves and sharp but creamy goats’ cheese from the Loire is an invitation to be persuaded by some delicious evidence of the dictum “what grows together goes together” by pouring a glass of the riverbank-cool, grassy Loire sauvignon blanc, Domaine Naudet Sancerre 2017 (£14.99, Waitrose). But if you’re simply mixing up peppery and crunchy leaves with olive oil and lemon juice, the lightness and brightness of Seméli’s brisk, floral, melon and lemon-scented dry white from the moscofilero grape works beautifully. TAPADA DE VILLAR VINHO VERDE, PORTUGAL 2017 (£9.95, MARKS & SPENCER) For salads with more robust flavours – whether that means pungent vinegary and garlicky dressings or chilli and ginger spice– I tend to look for wines with either a bit more robustness of texture or (for the spicy heat) tongue-cushioning sugar. For a full-flavoured dish loosely inspired by salade niçoise, which might include olives, anchovies and capers as well vinegar and garlic in the dressing, another French local favourite pairing always does the trick: a Provence rosé such as the ever-wonderful, pretty, precise but punchy M de Minuty Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2017 (£13.99, or £11.99 as part of a mix six, Majestic). For a salad in a roughly Vietnamese style, with fish sauce, lime, chilli, garlic and plenty of coriander and mint, I find the very subtle dose of sweetness and the spritzy burst of tropical fruit and citrus, M&S’s vinho verde is a match of inspired tanginess. Continue reading...
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