Feta, flavouring profile

Feta, flavouring profile

Feta is salty, sharp and fresh, and it calls for a white or pink wine with high acidity and a salty edge of its own.

The compounds that matter. Salt from the brine, which wants acidity to answer it. Lactic tang, which makes a soft wine taste flat. The protein of a young cheese, which reacts with red wine tannin to leave a metallic taste. Feta is usually eaten with tomato, olive, watermelon or herbs, all of which point the same way.

What it demands of a wine. High acidity, a citrus or saline register and no tannin. Light to medium body. Where feta is baked with honey or chilli, a little more fruit and texture help.

Seek. Assyrtiko from Santorini, lemony, salty and firm, grown in the same sea air as the cheese. Robola from Cephalonia, chalky and sharp. Xinomavro rosé from Amyndeon, a darker, savoury and bracing pink, for feta with tomato. Loureiro from Vinho Verde, light and floral, for feta with watermelon or herbs.

Avoid

Red wine, since fresh cheese and tannin together taste metallic. Oaked and soft, low acid whites, which the salt and tang make heavy and flat.

Three to reach for. Assyrtiko, Santorini, Greece. Darker Xinomavro rosé, Amyndeon, Greece. Loureiro, Vinho Verde, Portugal.