Salad and Prosecco. Really?

With a choice of 16 different lettuce types and a mixture of ways in which to prepare them and what ingredients to add, salads can never be seen as dull and boring. From seafood to mixed beans, with or without dressing and opting for tossed or not, salads are in fact a very popular dish at home and within restaurant menus. Green, fruit, pasta, Caesar…

Salads are known for being light and healthy and usually part of one’s diet for healthy eating and or losing weight. Most occasions a salad will contain lettuce with other vegetables along with options such as pasta, egg, cheese, meats and fish. Popular sauces / dressings for salad include vinaigrettes, honey mustard, blue cheese and more.

When it comes to pairing a wine with a salad we are ideally looking at an equally light and fresh example. White wine is usually selected though also sparkling wines are great for pairing with salads. Depending on the salad you have chosen, a lighter sparkling wine such as Prosecco can pair amazing well.

What is Prosecco: “The Prosecco region of Italy, producing its world-famous namesake sparkling wine, is a great example of a wine region that starts off with large plains of flat land for mass production to some of the most wonderful picturesque steep hillsides full of vines. Prosecco is split into two classifications which acknowledges the differing terroir quality – The DOC and the DOCG.”

 

We can simply make our own salads at home and bespoke them to our preferences. Yes, they can be very healthy and certainly give us our five a day, but we can also add on ingredients that will increase calories and oils / fats / carbs and more. A salad can creep from a starter to a main course very easily, a leaves on our plate may still tag things as a salad, but if we add a few leaves to a burger and fries?

Nonetheless, a healthy meal is a salad and it is ideally suited to a chilled glass of wine to accompany it. Light and refreshing in style, Prosecco is a great suggestion and will softly cleanse the palate whilst leaving delicate fruity expressions next to any savoury flavours from the dish. As you increase the quality of the Prosecco you serve, you will get a better pairing experience – From heavier sugared DOC Prosecco up to finer fruit flavours from the Glera grape via DOCG / Cartizze labels. An alternative will also be a young blanc de blancs Brut which will be once again citrus / fruity / floral in style.

 

Sparkling Wines pair with a host of dishes, do not be afraid to experiment and find combinations that suit your palate.

The best Prosecco you can look out for and purchase is a Cartizze label. A very tiny and unique region in Italy with rolling hills and vineyards on steep slopes. Picturesque and a wonderful wine tourism location – This 107 hectare wine region contains some of the finest expressions of Prosecco.

Villa Sandi – Cartizze Brit La Rivetta – Tasting notes: “Wonderful honeysuckle, fresh creamy apple, yellow pear aromas. Elegant and fine flavours still. Yellow fruits, citrus, white floral, silky honey suckle / honey.”

Salad pairing notes: “The dish is light and fresh and the Prosecco matches the style perfectly. The palate is cleansed from any oil and milky texture from the sauces and cheese to leave a fresh light and fruity taste sensation. The balance between the dish and the wine really compliment each other and neither do they reduce any of their taste delights.”

“LA RIVETTA” PROSECCO CARTIZZE DOCG (75CL) – VILLA SANDI available at £29.99 from the Bellavita website.