What would you suggest with Greek chicken (grilled)? It might end up being a salad with Greek chicken, with feta, olives, tomatoes, etc. Can somebody help me out here? I'm making dinner for my friend who just had a baby a few days ago, and that's what she wants. She and her husband don't really drink whites, so any red suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Is the salad going to have a vinegar based dressing?

Yes, w/lemon and oregano.

Vinager is hard to pair a wine with, expecially a red.

This is over my paygrade, anyone else want to suggest a wine that might work?

If they are willing to experiment a bit, you might try a Retsina. It is a traditional Greek varietal that (although white) does have a pretty strong pine taste to it. I agree with Sean...Vinegar is extremely hard to pair a red wine with. You might try to find a Pinot Noir that has a decent amount of acidity to it.

quote:

Originally posted by jennj007:
What would you suggest with Greek chicken?

First of all, I wasn't aware chickens had passports. And second, if you wanna be taken seriously, it's EU chicken.

champagne with the salad.
But, with the Greek chicken, I'd serve either a Rhone or a mediterranean Cab, like one from Morocco or Lebanon.
Retsina, with all due respect to redwine&redsox, tastes like paint remover to me, or at least what I think paint remover tastes like.

irwin is close.
I'd go with a rustic red like a earthy Syrah, Cotes du Rhone, or a Rioja.

Consider the red wines of Nauosa in Makedonia. They are made with a grape called Xinomavro (translates as acid and black), sometimes compared to Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir. Top Nauosa producers include Ktima Kir Yanni (I reccomend the Ramnista bottling), Karydas, and Boutari. If you want something a little less rustic Ktima Kir Yanni makes a non appelation blend of Xinomavro and Merlot called Yianakohori which is excellent.
BTW redwine and redsox, Retsina is not a varietal , but rather an Appelation of Tradition, where a fairly acidic blend of Savatiano, Roditis, and other varietals are flavored with pine resin.
If you want to get into the greek wine thing try http://www.greekwinemakers.com.

Thanks, Dan...my mistake.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I ended up running out of time to get to a wine shop, so I grabbed a couple of bottles from the cellar. The greek chicken ended up being greek chicken and veggie kebabs on the grill, with a salad on the side. I opened a '98 Hardy's Eileen Hardy Shiraz, a 2000 E. Guigal CdP, and although they may not have been the best pairing, they tasted great. We drank half the wine before dinner, so everything tasted just fine.

jennj007 how was the 2000 E. Guigal CdP? I have one left and am wonering if it should be opened soon or left to sleep for a while.

seanr7, I think it was pretty good. Maybe not as good as the '99, but good. A bit of leather, maybe? Earthy, a little gamey. My friend's husband is French, and loves CdP, so that's why I pulled that one. I don' have a lot of CdP here, having recently moved, because I'm storing a lot of stuff in a cellar at my parent' house since I'm not planning to drink it soon anyway. Easier to fight temptation when it's 1900 miles away!

Jenn,
if you are ever in the mood to be adventurous, find a bottle of retsina that we talked about earlier, and give it a shot. Personally, I'm not a fan...but some people love it. Good to hear that your meal worked out well.

I'm almost always in the mood to be adventurous , but I don't know if I want to taste anything that tastes/smells like pine or "paint thinner". Maybe. Is there one in particular that you would recommend?

Not necessarily. I would try it with a dish that has a lot of herbs in it...a lot of rosemary let's say. Any wine store with a halfway respectable Greek section will have one.

I know I'm late here, but dan is spot on. On our honeymoon in Santorini last summer, we drank a lot Xinomavro. It went great with all the Greek cooking. From the grilled meat (pork, lamb, chicken) to, believe it or not, the seafood. It's a simple wine with notes of plum and red cherries/fruit, but it just seemed to work with everything!!!

I had a retsina at one of the wineries... but it wasn't for me. Pine is the correct descriptor.

Ok, I'll try it. I'm sure I'll make Greek chicken again sometime soon, as my friends seem to like it. Maybe some dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) too. Mmmmmmm!