Salads and Wine

For a single woman living in New York City, surrounded by new restaurants to discover and hence eating out practically 5-6 times a week there is nothing like taking the time to cook a simple and nutritional meal at home.

And that is what Saturday and Sunday are about for me. Getting out of bed very late, making myself a pot of tea and then trying to decide what to have for lunch. Usually it is not a hard decision to make. I love salads....and yes they are wonderful to enjoy with a glass of wine anytime in the afternoon or evening!

Salads are fun and easy to make and a brief respite from my week eating out in restaurants. A chick pea salad with a beautifully chilled glass of Rose or a Sauvignon Blanc next to my kitchen window just about brings the weekend in. Salads are also wonderfully easy to pair with wines. Preferably lighter whites or rose wines because you do not want the wine to overwhelm the food. You just want a hint of flavor with an adequate amount of acidity to go with fresh vegetables, lentils, herbs and fruits.

Rosés make a surprisingly good salad match. They are light, fresh and completely uncomplicated! And fortunately in the past few years are enjoying a welcome revival. Usually they are simply wonderful during the summer but for me - enjoyed all year round!

What is a rose? Brief skin contact or the blending of a little bit of red wine to white are the two simple ways in which a rose is made. It is the degree of the contact between the skins and the juice that determines the final colour of the wine. The qualities I'd look for in a good rosé would therefore probably be crispness and freshness just like a good salad, buy the most recent vintage, and a good balance of fruit and acidity.

A lovely Rose is the Hill Family Estate Rose of Malbec. It has watermelon and a slight whiff of strawberries on the nose with a hint of spice and then it bursts in the mouth with wild cherry and more watermelon! It is also unique in the fact that this is one of the only roses I have had that is made with juice from the malbec grape.

You can enjoy roses with most white fish and chicken, they are heavenly with cold cuts, Indian food and most Asian cusine...Remember they are not meant to be complex wines but to be enjoyed for their fresh and fun appeal. So try something new...!

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