WINE IN SUMMER: 3 TIPS TO ENJOY IT
Dear Friends, the temperature is rising and naturally, our diet is changing towards a different style, in order to avoid digesting issues. Thus, let’s shunt the baked pork shin recipe (yes, we know that you were getting rather clever at it) and start to prepare delicious rice salads, cold pasta and light recipes in general.
Just like changing the wardrobe from winter to summer, our wine consumption habits must vary accordingly. We would like to give you three easy tips to appreciate wine at its best, even when the temperature is above 30 degrees.
1) Rosé, rosé, rosé!
Yes, we are writing from the heel of the boot, land of rosé wines, so this is quite normal, but rosé is the ideal wine for summertime. Good acidity and minerality, it must be served cool and allows us to fully enjoy the Southern black varieties even within the hot season. When the full-bodied structure of Negroamaro is just too much to handle, try the same grapes in the rosé version, you’ll be surprised! For instance, did you ever try a glass of cool Saturnino on the beach? No? You don’t know what you’re missing.
2) Drink sparkling wines
The seasonality of sparkling wine is such a cliché, but it is quite true. Usually there is a huge request of sparkling wine around Christmas, but then after that the bottles sadly hangs on the shelves. The consumption of sparkling wine it is strongly connected with celebrations and we think this is a pity. The bottles bought to celebrate Champions league are still in the fridge, why not try to use them to match a full meal?
3) Red wine? Try it cool!
We know we’re entering a minefield. Simply thinking of cold red wine can stick up some people’s nose. Acidity, minerality and tannins would be intensely enhanced by cooling the wine, thus damaging the balance of the product, but… We are talking about cool, not cold, red wine. This is not a semantic difference. Red wine must be served between 16 and 20 degrees. During summer the room temperature of a house or a restaurant is usually around 25-26 degrees (at least here in the south of Italy!). It is almost impossible to enjoy a red wine at that temperature. The solution? Try to keep it in the refrigerator for just 20 minutes before uncorking it. The ideal temperature of the bottle in summer is around 16°, because inevitably the temperature will quickly raise. Tip: try to cool down a little bit our Oltremé, you’ll be surprised!
We salute you with a nice song about summer, stay tuned!