The best wine snacks are the ones that match the weight of the wine in your glass: seafood, fresh cheese and lemony dishes with white, grilled sausage, meatballs and hard cheese with red. Rosé sits in between and works with almost everything. This guide is only about Greek meze, starters and cheese platters for sharing, not main courses, and every idea here works with our two wines from Skotini, in the Peloponnese.
The 3 rules of wine and meze pairing
Three simple rules cover almost every meze.
- Weight with weight. A light dish, such as greens with lemon, gets lost next to a heavy, oak aged red, and a chargrilled sausage covers a delicate white. Match the weight of the food to the body of the wine.
- Acidity cuts through fat. Fried food, saganaki and oily dips need a wine with lively acidity, which cleans your palate before the next bite. That is why fried squid and white wine are a classic pair.
- Salt softens, tannins need fat. Salty bites such as feta, olives and cured meats make wine taste rounder. The tannins in red wine love meat and hard cheese, but with fish and seafood they can leave a metallic taste.
Meze for white wine
Dry white wine is the most flexible partner for Greek meze. An aromatic Moschofilero, with a light body and lively acidity, suits anything with seafood, lemon, herbs or fresh cheese. Our Moschofilero White Shadow has notes of lychee, rose petals and lemon blossom, and we serve it at 12 degrees Celsius.
- Seafood: grilled shrimp or shrimp saganaki, fried squid, steamed mussels, grilled octopus, marinated anchovies.
- Fresh cheeses: feta with oregano, katiki, anthotyro, grilled manouri. Moschofilero also works with spicy cheeses such as kopanisti.
- Dolmadakia: vine leaves stuffed with rice, herbs and lemon, a natural match for citrus aromas.
- Tzatziki and yogurt dips: they want a fresh white, not a tannic red.
- Greens and vegetables: wild greens with olive oil and lemon, fried zucchini, zucchini fritters.
For white wine styles and serving, read our white wine guide.
Meze for rosé wine
Rosé is the wild card of the table. It has the freshness and acidity of a white, plus some of the fruit and structure of a red. That makes it the safest choice when seafood, cheese and something grilled share the same table. In the Peloponnese many rosés are made from Agiorgitiko, and Moschofilero, a pink skinned grape, can also give rosé wines.
- Taramosalata (fish roe dip) and eggplant dip
- Graviera saganaki, pan fried cheese
- Meatballs with mint and mini burger bites
- Grilled or stuffed mushrooms
- Chicken souvlaki bites
- Watermelon with feta and mint
Serve rosé well chilled, like a white. More on styles and serving in our rosé wine guide.
Meze for red wine
Red wine needs meze with body: meat, hard cheese, tomato, a bit of char. Agiorgitiko, the great red grape of the Peloponnese, makes wines with red fruit, sweet spice and round tannins that suit grilled meze. Our Agiorgitiko Cava ages for 36 months in oak barrels, has a full body and is best served at 18 degrees Celsius.
- Village sausage, chargrilled or pan fried with peppers.
- Keftedakia, fried meatballs, or meatballs in tomato sauce.
- Hard cheeses: kefalotyri, kefalograviera, aged graviera, smoked cheese.
- Eggplant: baked with tomato and feta, or small portions of imam.
- Pies: meat pie, leek and cheese pie, small mince pies.
- Cured meats: prosciutto, pastourmas, louza, smoked pork.
Finish with a piece of 75% dark chocolate, a surprising match for an aged Agiorgitiko. For everything about red wine, from tannins to serving, see our red wine guide.
Wine and meze pairing table
Where we list two options, both work.
| Meze | Wine | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Grilled shrimp or shrimp saganaki | White (Moschofilero) | Acidity freshens the sweet flesh and the sauce |
| Fried squid | White | Cuts through the frying oil |
| Dolmadakia (stuffed vine leaves) | White | Lemon and herbs meet citrus aromas |
| Tzatziki | White | Fresh with fresh, no tannins |
| Feta with oregano | White or rosé | Salt softens, acidity balances |
| Taramosalata | Rosé or white | Salt and richness need freshness |
| Grilled octopus | White or rosé | Smoky flavour without heaviness |
| Graviera saganaki | Rosé | Fruit for melted, salty cheese |
| Pizza slices | White (Moschofilero) | Tomato and cheese with fresh acidity |
| Meatballs | Rosé or red | Meat of medium intensity |
| Village sausage | Red (Agiorgitiko) | Fat and spice for the tannins |
| Eggplant with tomato | Red | Tomato needs fruit and body |
| Prosciutto and smoked cured meats | Aged red | Salt and smoke with oak notes |
| 75% dark chocolate | Aged red | Chocolate meets the chocolate notes of the wine |
Easy and Lenten wine snacks
Easy snacks to serve with wine in 10 minutes
These wine snacks need no oven, just what you usually have in the fridge and the cupboard.
- Sliced feta with olive oil, oregano and freshly ground pepper.
- Olives marinated with orange zest, garlic and thyme.
- Barley rusk with grated tomato, feta and olive oil, a quick dakos.
- Cubes of graviera with grapes or figs.
- Cured meats wrapped around breadsticks.
- Nuts toasted in a pan with a little salt and paprika.
- Halloumi or manouri in a non stick pan, a few minutes on each side.
Lenten meze with wine
Fasting does not mean an empty table. Many classic Greek Lenten meze are among the best matches for wine, especially white.
- Fava, yellow split pea puree with capers and onion, with white.
- Dolmadakia, with white.
- Octopus in vinegar or grilled, with white or rosé.
- Squid and shrimp, with white.
- Taramosalata and eggplant dip, with rosé or white.
- Chickpea fritters and tomato fritters, with rosé.
- Grilled mushrooms with garlic and thyme, with rosé or a light red.
Cheese platter and tips for a group
Which cheese with which wine
A cheese platter is the easiest way to host with wine. Choose three to five cheeses, from the freshest to the most aged, and follow the table.
| Cheese | Wine | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Feta | White | Salt needs acidity |
| Katiki, anthotyro | White | Light, tangy cheeses for a light wine |
| Manouri | White or rosé | Buttery and mild, lovely with a little honey |
| Kopanisti | Aromatic white | Spicy cheese calms down next to an aromatic white |
| Kasseri | Rosé | Mild and soft |
| Graviera | Rosé or red | Medium intensity, great with nuts |
| Kefalograviera, kefalotyri | Red | Salty and hard, they stand up to tannins |
| Smoked cheese | Aged red | Smoke meets oak notes |
| Parmesan | Aged red | Aged cheese for an aged wine |
Add bread or breadsticks, grapes, figs, walnuts and a little honey. Something sweet next to salty cheese works with both colours.
Portions and serving
- Meze before a meal: 3 to 4 different dishes in small portions are enough.
- A whole evening of meze: 6 to 8 different dishes for a group of six, hot and cold together.
- Cheese: about 50 grams per person when other meze are served, about 100 to 150 grams when the platter is the main event.
- Wine: a 750 ml bottle gives about 5 glasses of 150 ml. For a relaxed evening, allow about half a bottle per person and always keep water on the table.
Put out the cold meze first and bring the hot ones gradually. Start with white wine and seafood and finish with red, meat and hard cheese.
