Having just celebrated the summer solstice, I now look forward to the pleasure of dining al fresco over the next few months. To many, that also means wining al fresco.
While there are no hard and fast rules for this sort of activity, there are a few tried and true suggestions to enhance the experience.
My fondest al fresco wining memories are from a trip many summers ago through the south of France. Lunch under an umbrella outside was almost a requirement. Few restaurants had air conditioning, so dining inside given the heat and humidity wasn’t an appealing option.
One particularly sweltering afternoon in Grasse, I chose to visit the outdoor section at La Bastide Saint Antoine. Nearly every table was taken — it seemed the entire village was taking the afternoon off — and virtually every table was festooned with ice buckets and bottles of the local rose wine.
Americans have an irrational fear of rose, heightened, I suspect, by the belief that all pink wine is sweet and cloying, hardly a good match with most food. The truth, of course, is that most rose is either dry or slightly off-dry, and there is hardly a better match with summer picnic fare such as cold chicken, smoked salmon or cold pasta salads.
I have been a convert ever since. Rose purists will argue that dry rose wine is a year-round beverage, and they would be right. However, its greatest appeal is on a steamy day in the dead of summer. So my No. 1 suggestion is crisp, dry rose wine for delicious refreshment in the middle of a heat wave.
No. 2 is the tip that the ice bucket is your best friend. You already knew that, right? Except that I’m talking about putting your red wines on ice. Reds served warm often show their rough edges, with the tannin and the alcohol taking over from the fruit. That’s a recipe for making your reds taste harsh and bitter.
Ice the bottles for 15 minutes on a warm day, and you will notice a dramatic difference in the level of pleasure your reds deliver.
Finally, focus on lighter whites and reds because they will refresh more than heavier, more complex wines that generally have more alcohol and/or tannin. This is the time to drink easy whites such as pinot grigio, muscadet and sauvignon blanc and less challenging reds such as beaujolais, rioja crianza and Rhone-style red blends. But when in doubt, do not fear the rose!
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