Drinking wine in the summertime is great if you like white, rose or sparkling, but when you’ve got temperatures up near 100 degrees it can be damn hard to enjoy red wine. While I don’t have any real advice to offer when it comes to full-bodied red blends (other than to just get over it and choke it down), over the last couple of years chilled reds have become one of my favorite summer sips.
They’re the ideal wines alongside the grill: smoky and meaty foods often demand more flavor than white and even rose can deliver. While I’m certainly partial to a good beer as much as the next Northwesterner, I feel like a lager or light ale serves more as an alcohol delivery system than as an actual pairing. They’re also an excellent pairing with that iconic Northwest summer dish: cedar plank salmon.
So what makes for a chillable red? Well, they’re typically made from grapes like Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir, Lambrusco and Lemberger. They’re relatively light-bodied—while I have to admit that I’ve never tried serving a classic Bordeaux blend chilled, I can imagine that it wouldn’t work out so well. If the goal is refreshing, lighter is better.
The other two key aspects are bright fruit and higher levels of acidity. Both are critical for ensuring the wines are crisp and refreshing, not heavy and ponderous. Similarly, oak-aging is less desirable: most of these wines are aged in old casks or stainless steel, to preserve that freshness.
It’s a style that some of the cooler growing regions in the area are well-suited for. Some of the cooler parts of the Willamette Valley produce Pinot Noirs that can do the trick, like the 2013 J. Albin Lorelle Pinot Noir, but even more exciting are wines from less-exposed areas. British Columbia produces some Pinots that show the desired characteristics, while Lemberger has a long history in both Eastern and Western Washington: give the offerings from Kiona Vineyards and Winery or Whidbey Island Winery a try.
Even more so, we could stand to see some more of these wines being made and consumed locally. It’s a style and approach that’s widespread throughout most of Europe, but Americans typically haven’t gotten quite as into chilled reds. Yet every time I pour them at tastings, or bring chilled reds to a party, they get rave reviews. It’s all about getting over that mental hurdle that red wine isn’t supposed to be cold.
So for your next barbecue, picnic, or outdoor gathering, consider picking up a bottle of bright, fruity, and crisp red wine, throwing it into the cooler, and giving it a try. It might not be the most spectacular wine experience of your life, but I’m sure that it’ll open your mind to the style. At the very least, it will provide for an interesting topic of conversation.
