Summer is perhaps the best season for wine, but it’s also the best season for not taking wine too seriously. It’s the time of year to throw expectations and customs a bit out the window in the name of having a bit of fun. After all, who wants to lug wine glasses to the top of a mountain or out on a kayak when you don’t have to?
Fortunately there are more and more ways to do exactly that, many of them offered by Northwest winemakers. Canned wine is a rapidly growing industry and, as long as you’re looking for something fresh and fun, it’s a great vessel for that — it won’t break as easily as glass, and doesn’t require any kind of glassware. Or find something in a screwcap and snag some plastic cups (wine glass-shaped or Red Solo, your choice) and get lost in nature.
Stepping back even further, summer is the best time to manipulate your white, rosé or sparkling wine in pursuit of pleasure. Whether that’s dropping a few ice cubes in when it’s 90+ degrees out, or maybe topping that up with some soda water for a delightful wine spritzer, or bringing the ’80s back with a wine cooler (which is all a Mimosa is, by the way), have some fun! Maybe throw some berries in there; you don’t even have to go all the way to sangria, but you sure can.
I’ve also been playing around with more savory additions to my wine; green herbs in particular. A little basil or mint can really create an interesting effect, though you have to be careful not to go overboard lest you taste nothing else. Sometimes I’ll just let the leaves steep in the wine for a couple of minutes and then remove them, just to get a slight hint of the flavor; this works particularly well with fruitier wines like Sauvignon Blanc.
People tend to assume that because I’m a sommelier, I have to take wine super seriously. Maybe the rest of the year that’s true, but a Northwest summer is too precious to smother in formality. Fortunately, it seems like I’m not the only somm to realize that, as I’m starting to see more fun wine cocktails show up on restaurant and bar lists. While the pleasures of formal, fine wine never quite go out of season, even they can use a vacation from time to time.
