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Last week’s column was a casual toe-dip into the lido of summer-centric drinks writing. I write these columns just over two weeks in advance, so I need Met Office/clairvoyant weather prediction skills to work out what it is we’re likely to be drinking by the time the column comes out. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare that summer will be here when you read this. No, don’t look out of the window. Keep looking at your phone screen, and imagine the sun’s beating down outside. That calls for a chilled red, right?
The types of red wine that fare best when chilled are those that are fruity, youthful and not too tannic. The punching down or pumping over of a wine can extract tannins from the skins, pips and stalks. Often confused with the mouth-puckering effect of acidity, the best way I can describe the sensation of tannins is it’s a bit like when you drink the last dregs of a cup of green tea: it tastes all stemmy and dry, and you can feel where you’ve been biting the inside of your cheeks.
“In hot and sweaty Barcelona, we serve all our reds at between 11C and 12C,” says Benji Sher, owner and sommelier at the city’s Fluid wine bar. “That’s definitely too cold for the super-tannic bangers, but I’d rather things slowly warm up in the glass. Better to be too cold than too hot.”
“A cold wine is more a thing to drink and less a thing to savour,” says J Lee, a New York-based food writer whose semi-anonymous musings on flavour I trust disproportionately considering I’ve never met him. “I think the way we’re consuming wine is becoming more casual,” he says. “A cold wine is never so serious, and most other beverages that people drink casually are served cold: beer, cocktails, White Claw … I’m looking forward to ice cubes in wine coming back.”
Perhaps that is the logical next step for those among us who want our reds to remain chilled all summer long? I have to confess, popping an ice cube in my wine glass isn’t something I’ve yet tried for fear that it will dilute the wine, and therefore my drinking experience, which doesn’t bear thinking about. But then I think of my beloved iced coffee. Not only is this apparently the reason I’ll never own a house, but it’s also something I suck up so ravenously quickly that the fact that the ice may dilute the coffee doesn’t even cross my mind. Perhaps that’s the thing: something as simple and delicious as a chilled red needn’t concern itself with the heat. By the time the ice would have melted, it’ll already be in your belly. Ideally alongside some saucisson.
Four reds that benefit from a chill
Morrisons The Best Côtes du Rhône Villages £9.75, 10.5%. Crafted in the Rhône village of Sablet by Boutinot for Morrisons own-label range, this is all dark fruit.
W/O Organic Frappato 2023 £12.99 Laithwaites, 13.5%. Many a sommelier recommends frappato as a wine that thrives when chilled.
Geyerhof StockWerk Zweigelt 2023 £12.95 The Wine Society, 12%. Rousing savoury tea and bramble fruit notes in this Austrian red, which tend generally to fare well when served a bit colder.
Marchesi Migliorati Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2022 £22 Passione Vino, 12.5%. Generous montepulciano from a remarkable independent importer. Check out their other stuff, too.
