Beating the summer heat and still enjoying wine

Things are literally hotting up at this time of the year as we approach Christmas so its worthwhile spending a few moments considering how to get the most from your wine in the hot temperatures. This is especially so if you are a red drinker.

Drinking red wine when its 30 degrees is not always pleasant, the wine gets more volatile and nasty the hotter it gets. Ideally, it should be drunk at about 20 or less. If your cellar is air-conditioned and running at about 14-18 degrees it’s worthwhile leaving the wine in the cellar until shortly before you wish to consume it. If you are that lucky or organised, then pull the wine out about an hour prior to drinking it and the temperature should be fine.

If your house is air-conditioned to a reasonable level then leaving the wine in the direct flow of the air conditioner is a good way to keep it at a drinkable temperature. If that’s not an option a Champaign cooler sleeve over the bottle for half an hour works wonders and cools it down quickly.

As a last resort, don’t be afraid to put the wine in the fridge for an hour or so to cool it down, you won’t damage it and the wine will be far more enjoyable.

Sparkling reds in summer are always very refreshing too and perfect on a hot day when you can’t face a real red.  There is nothing better than sitting out on the deck watching the sun going down with a glass of cool red bubbles in hand. The perfect temperature for red bubbles is about 10-12 degrees, its still cold enough to chill the wine but not cold enough to kill the complexity of flavour. A word of caution if you intend to let the sparkling red warm up prior to drinking it; open it as soon as it comes out the fridge. As the wine warms up the gas pressure increases and opening a warmer bottle can result in an explosion of froth and bubbles.

One of my summer nightmares is the incredible number of restaurants that serve red wine at room temperature when the room is not air-conditioned. In many cases you will have seen the wines stored in the general restaurant area in racks and not only are they subject to large daily large temperature fluctuations but on hot days when its 30 degrees, so is the wine! Just imagine, the heat of the day is cooling off and you order a steak and salad and feel like a good drop of red and order a bottle of 1998 Chateaux Top Shelf Plonk which costs $80 on the wine list (which is $30 from your favourite bottle shop on special – but that’s another story). The wine arrives and the waiter/waitress/waitperson ceremoniously cuts the top off the foil, pulls out the tree bark plug and pours a small amount for you to taste.

You taste it but it’s almost hot enough to burn the taste buds off your tongue and scalds the roof of your mouth, well not exactly but you get the picture. The question is can you reject the wine because its so warm its almost undrinkable or is it your own fault because you were silly enough to order it in the first place knowing that the eating establishment is not air-conditioned?

I don’t pretend to know the answer to this one but I won’t order red wine in that sort of establishment. Either take you own and chill it first or heaven forbid, suffer and drink a c-through, or if you can afford it, celebrate with Frog Bubbles, after all it is “the Silly Season!”

Unlike most other websites, www.torbwine.com won’t be closing down for a month over the holidays and I plan to catch up on a backlog of wine tastings and articles so there should be plenty of vinous material to read over the summer break.

Merry Christmas, a happy new year and as usual, cheersMerry Christmas, a happy new year and as usual, cheers

Ric