Fattoush

Mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, radish, spring onion, and fresh herbs — usually parsley, mint, and purslane — tossed with crisp shards of toasted or fried pita and a sumac-and-lemon dressing finished with olive oil. Sumac is the analytical signal — tart, fruity, faintly woody, distinct from lemon's pure citric acid — and it gives fattoush its character.

Pairs Perfectly

Assyrtiko from Santorini, Greece. The volcanic mineral salinity meets the herb-and-vegetable freshness, the bone-dry electric acid tracks both sumac and lemon precisely, and the unoaked profile keeps the dish bright. A Moschofilero from Mantinia offers the same logic with floral lift at a more accessible price point.

Pairs Well

Massaya White from the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. The Lebanese answer for the Lebanese salad — Obeideh and Merwah deliver a saline, herb-driven white with regional fidelity that no European wine can fully replicate, and the moderate body handles the fried pita cleanly.

Grüner Veltliner Federspiel from the Wachau, Austria. White-pepper aromatics nod to sumac's faintly woody edge, the herbaceous green spine meets parsley and mint, and the dry mineral profile cuts olive oil where a less austere answer than Assyrtiko is preferred.

Avoid

Oaked whites — overwhelm fresh herbs entirely; tannic reds — clash with the bright dressing; sweet wines — fight the savoury-tart profile; aromatic whites with rose or lychee — fight mint and sumac.

Failing That

A Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc.

If All Else Fails

Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine.

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