REDS TO CHILL
[Published summer of 2023]
Unless you are reading this in Anchorage, this would be a good time of the year to lay away those brawny Barolos, epic cabernet sauvignons and high-octane zinfandels.
It’s summertime; the drinkin’ is easy. Red wines, by and large, are winter warmers.
But if it just has to be red, here’s to the reds of summer: soft, smooth, juicy reds that you’ll want to gulp rather than sip. Even reds that can take a chill.
Most red wines just don’t work with either summer’s heat or food. Choosing a warm, molar-purpling merlot to accompany a fridge-cold chicken salad isn’t merely un-yummy, it’s stupid. Such a combo doesn’t refresh and, if eating this time of year is about anything, it’s about refreshment. Less “hoo-hah”; more “ahh.”
For summer’s red wines, seek out those that are moderate of tannin and alcohol, buoyant of fruit aromas and flavors, and edged with a bit of tangy acidity. In truth, large swaths of the world’s wines include such reds.
Of gamay
The grape gamay (full name: gamay noir au jus blanc) is natively low in tannin and so pretty of fruit that a glass of it is the red wine with a paper parasol. It undergirds all the delicious, aromatic reds of the Beaujolais district of southern Burgundy, perhaps the most under-rated red wine region of the globe. You’ll find it elsewhere too, including other parts of France such as the Loire.
Of pinot noir
Vine scientists trace gamay’s heritage back to the pinot noir. Indeed, for summer’s purposes, Daddy Pinot offers gamay’s same effusive aromas and finesse of palate, but with even more persistence of flavor and come-hither seduction.
Try pinot with anything grilled, from white to pink proteins, ending just into the red meat family. Pinot noir and grilled salmon has a cult following in the Northwest.
From all over
You may fling your net far and wide to capture summer reds, from cooler climes such as northern Italy (made from the grapes dolcetto and barbera); some pockets of Tuscany (humbler Chianti and sangiovese-based reds); regions along the perimeter of Spain and Portugal (Alentejo reds; wines from the Spanish grapes mencia and some tempranillo, especially from Bierzo and Rioja); and many a Cotes-du-Rhone, grenache-based reds with lower profiles than what the same grape produces in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
And ferret out hitherto overlooked wines such as Cerasuola di Vittoria from Sicily; zweigelt-based reds of Austria; and dry and off-dry Lambrusco from Italy’s north.
Slightly sweet
No season better favors a certain category of red wine than does summer; the wines are slightly sweet. No pooh-poohs necessary; off-dry wines such as moscato are the fastest growing segment in the market. Many someones like them. And they are terrifically inexpensive.
On deck
You'll find, at a lunch under the boughs or at a picnic dinner in the park, that any red wine served at the ambient outdoor temperature (80-90 degrees or, this summer, even more) really tastes awful. Its fruit is dulled. Its tannins are harsh. It’s just too much in the mouth.
That's why it's OK to cool down many a summer red to about 55-60 degrees, the temperature of well or spring water. Your food and your palate will thank you for it.
Here’s a cool trick to bring your reds down in temperature and even to keep your white wine bottles with a chill on: Soak a kitchen towel in water, wring it out and drape it over or around the wine bottle. Evaporation (even on a humid day) will help keep the bottle cool or bring down the temperature of a warmish red wine.