For dinner tonight, I made a simple Salade Niçoise: butter lettuce (untraditional but sue me) topped with heirloom cherry tomatoes, baby yukon gold potatoes (cooked 18 minutes in heavily salted boiling water and then chilled in an ice water bath), haricot verts (cooked 4 minutes in modestly salted boiling water and then ditto), hard boiled eggs, finely sliced green onions (mostly the green parts), Nettuno anchovy filets
and Tonnino Tuna Ventresca
. All of which was topped with a light Briannas Lemon Tarragon Dressing
.
Lots of wine options with Salade Niçoise. The classic is a Provençale rose, of course, but I had none on hand. I often like a rose sparkling wine, but ditto. A light Pinot Noir might work, but I'd be more likely to go that direction if I had grilled fresh tuna steaks for the topping. Skimming through the white wines in my cellar (about 5%), the Tatomer Meeresboden Grüner Veltliner jumped out as a wine I wanted to try and a potentially interesting match.
Grüner Veltliner is a major Austrian variety, of course, but this rare Central Coast example could go toe to toe with any from Austria. At this stage, the bouquet is modest but suggests white nectarines and canned pineapple. On the palate, I tasted pineapple, Meyer lemon, peaches, and honeydew melon. It's a lively wine with high acidity, which made it refreshing against the salt and oil in the salad. Highly recommended. Grade: 90
