I love wine and salads but sometimes the pairing suggestions are misleading as the salad dressing plays a more important role than the salad.  It seems to me that the tail is wagging the dog when it comes to wine and salad pairing. 

I have come across numerous Salads and salad ingredients wine pairing suggestions but the salad dressing is the ingredient that needs to be paired with the wine. 

But in general salad dressing is one of the most difficult components to coordinate with wine because of its acidic nature.  So what do you do? 

The best thing to do is address the mayor acidity of some dressings. You can reduce the vinegar part of the salad dressing with olive oil our rich stock, like chicken stock. 

 Chef Josh Ash  wrote that a major problem in pairing salad and wine is the high acid level of most vinaigrettes, which wreaks havoc on wine, making it taste flat and flabby.  He suggests that you can avoid this conflict by making dressings that are less sharp but still vivid, with some of the following techniques.

Replace part or all of the red or white wine vinegar in a recipe with balsamic, sherry, or rice wine vinegar, which have fuller, mellower flavours.

Use fruit juice instead of vinegar. Obvious choices might be lemon or lime juice, but think also of orange juice, apple cider, cranberry juice or any fruit juice with a bright flavour.

Replace acid ingredients with other liquids that are intense, but not sharp, such as rich chicken, veal, fish or vegetable stock, Worcester sauce, soy sauce, juices from roasted meats or vegetables or roasted garlic purée. 

When designing a salad, be sure to include ingredients that have a natural affinity to wine like cheese, herbs, greens, nuts, fruits and more. 

My suggestion for middle of the road wine which will pair well with salads is the Arniston Bay Chenin Blanc / Chardonnay. This is a lovely versatile crispy and fruity wine.