Salad and my "House White"

Ah, the lazy days of summer... They are upon us. Not much cooking going on these days in my house. The vegetables are ripening in the garden, so often, it's just a big salad for dinner. One of my favorite lettuces is mâche, also called  lamb's lettuce. These are tender, dark leafy greens. It is admittedly difficult to find in these parts... But you could substitute arugula or baby spinach, even though the mâche has a milder flavor.

My classic recipe for mâche lettuce is to toss it in a balsamic vinaigrette, and add bacon bits, goat cheese, red onions, sunflower seeds, and wedges of boiled egg. For the balsamic vinaigrette, I have been experimenting with specialty olive oils and vinegars from this wonderful store lately. The nice thing is that you can taste everything in the shop before you purchase. Two of my favorites are the fig balsamic vinegar and the Arbequina olive oil which I used on this salad.


Salads are sometimes difficult to pair with wine because of the acidity of the vinegar. My go-to wine for salads and really for any kind of white wine fare is the 2010 La Vuelta Torrontes from Mendoza, Argentina. Unfortunately, I cannot find a website for the winery that makes it. But I think I can go as far as to call it my "house white" (as in "I always have a bottle of it in the house"), just as I recently introduced you to my "house red" here.

In this Torrontes, floral notes take turns with fruity flavors of green apple, citrus and white peach. On the finish, there is some very pleasant acidity and minerality. To me, this combines the best of both worlds between a Sauvignon Blanc and a dry Riesling, if that makes any sense...

Definitely one of my favorites, and very affordable at that. For some reason, it works very well with salads. As a matter of fact, it shines even more in combination with salads. Give it a try!