Proprietor, the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room

For most of the year, the serious wine drinker tends to gravitate toward the big reds, the Bordeaux and Cabernets, or follow the great white way of Chardonnay – powerful wines steeped in history and layered with complexity.  All well and good until Spring rolls around – at which point the last thing you want from your wine is a challenge.  Selecting a summer wine isn’t all that different from choosing the right beach reading.  You want something light, but not so flimsy that it fails to keep your attention.

Summer provides a wonderful opportunity to experience new things, particularly new wines.  Whether you are picnicking, firing up the grill, or sitting on the back porch watching the sunset, a glass of wine can make any moment complete.

With summer’s warmth and humidity, dining and entertaining is casual and outdoors.  So “just say no” to heavy Chardonnays and over-oaked, tannic Cabernets that turn your tongue furry.  Think young.  Wines from recent vintages will be fresh and reasonably priced.  In general, select crisp, refreshing white wines to sip and to match salads, seafood and chicken.  It’s all about acidity with summer whites, to keep the wine light on the palate with a clean finish (i.e., for the same reason why lemonade always tastes better during summer).

Poolside?  Try a German Riesling from the 2001 vintage, a classic for this country.  The touch of sweetness rounds out the wine just enough to make it a perfect aperitif wine that doesn’t require a meal to show off.  Also, Portuguese Vinho Verde’, with its snappy light effervescence is a real winner for ocean gazing. 

Grab a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand or the Sancerre Region of France to accompany your summer shellfish dinner.  The grapefruity sting of acidity is just right refresher on a warm day. Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect wine for home-cooked summertime meals, given its range of spicy, fruity flavors that add depth and finesse to lighter meals enjoyed at a sunny, outdoor picnic. Once damned by faint praise as "poor man's Chardonnay," Sauvignon Blanc now offers not only the choice of excellent quality at comparatively bargain prices, but a wide range of styles from which to choose, not only from Bordeaux, but also California, New Zealand and Australia.

Seek out a nice Dry Rose’ to beat the heat. The qualities I'd look for in a good rosé would probably be crispness and freshness (buy the most recent vintage), fruitiness, good balance (they need acidity to provide food compatibility, since they don't have tannin), and low cost (they are glugging wines).

Select fresh, fruit-driven red wines to accompany grilled and BBQ meats and don’t worry about complexity.   

Pinot Noir is always a great choice, full of red berry fruit, elegant and polished, it accompanies many fish dishes just fine. 

Branch out with a Spanish  Tempranillo, not too heavy, but hedonistic and fruit-driven.

Don’t hesitiate to put a slight chill on your reds either.  Most consumers drink their red wine too warm as it is, 55 degrees should be about right.

Here are some delicious summer selections to cool you off!

LEONARD KREUSCH PIESPORTER GOLDTROPCHEN KABINETT, GERMANY, 2001, Approx., $12

Typical Mosel Riesling aromas, flavors and textures, but with an elegance and harmony that raises it above ordinary. Flowery, ginger-like and green apple aromas; pear, melon and even some berry flavors; and an almost weightless mouthfeel, add up to a winning combination.

AVELEDA CASAL GARCIA VINHO VERDE, PORTUGAL, Approx., $9

“Floral and pretty in the nose; this captures the spritzy Vinho Verde style to a tee. A lemony profile with vital acids makes this the right counterpart to crab lobster or shrimp salad. It’ll cut through the mayonnaise, augmenting the flavors of the sea.”

A BEST BUY!  RATED 85 POINTS, THE WINE ENTHUSIAST

VEGA SINDOA DRY ROSE’, SPAIN, 2001, Approx., $8

“America received 2,000 cases of the 2001 Vega Sindoa Rose, a blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Garnacha (Grenache). Its light salmon color is accompanied by copious quantities of framboise and cherry-like fruit, medium body, and excellent purity as well as ripeness. Drink it over the next year.   This estate, perennially chosen as producing some of the world's greatest wine values, Bodegas Nekeas has fashioned this wine that must be tasted to be believed.”

RATED 88 POINTS, ROBERT PARKER, THE WINE ADVOCATE

CHARLES WIFFEN SAUVIGNON BLANC, NEW ZEALAND, Approx., $14

A light floral, hay and fresh cut grass bouquet prefaces a palate with clover honey, citrus, mineral and fresh dill flavors, balanced by plenty of yellow fruit. It's medium-weight and angular, but classy, and finishes taut with lemon-slate flavors.

ZARDETTO PROSECCO BRUT, ITALY, Approx., $14

“Here’s a value worth celebrating:  a thick, full-bodied sparkler with a bountiful honeydew character, light bead and fresh finish.  Drink now.”

BEST BUY

RATED 87 POINTS

THE WINE SPECTATOR

Bodegas Borsao Tres Picos, campo de borja, spain, 2001, Approx., $15

“This excellent winery’s 100% old vine Tempranillo cuvee is an elegant, dark ruby-colored effort displaying a Pinot Noir-like nose of sweet and sour cherries, minerals, earth, and herbs.  Remarkably, for a wine in this price range, it is filled with finesse as well as elegance.  Drink it over the next 1-3 years,.”

RATED 87 POINTS, ROBERT PARKER, THE WINE ADVOCATE

BABCOCK PINOT NOIR, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, 2001, Approx., $24

“Elegant, with pretty plum, blackberry jam and piecrust notes that are smooth-textured and long on the finish.  Excellent value.  Drink now through 2007.”

RATED 87 POINTS, THE WINE SPECTATOR