Which wines are best for the summer season and how can we enjoy them anywhere?

The start of the summer season is approaching and the temperatures are becoming quite stifling for this time of the year. We feel like going out more - ending the state of alarm in Spain - and our consumption and leisure habits are adapting to the weather conditions: lighter foods and drinks, outdoor eating and dining, etc. Today we have decided to compile some recommendations to continue enjoying wine, our passion, in spite of the high temperatures.

Which wines to drink

No one is oblivious to the fact that there are wines that are more suitable for high temperatures because they help us quench our thirst and keep our body temperature more stable.

Acidic drinks give us a more refreshing sensation, so white wines with a lot of acidity are ideal for this time of the year: Galician wines made with treixadura or albariño grapes, such as those from the Ribeiro and Rías Baixas appellations, for example. Txakolís are also good allies, from any of the Basque appellations: Arabako Txakolina, Bizkaiko Txakolina or Getariako Txakolina.

The bubbles of cavas and other sparkling wines, together with their acidity, are also good friends against the heat, especially if we choose wines with little ageing, which are lighter and which, served chilled, can harmonise perfectly with an aperitif or even with the main courses of a meal, as we have already seen in our article on the myths of wine pairing.

Rosé wines or claret wines are a very tempting option during the summer season. A bottle of young rosé from the Navarra, Ribera del Duero or Cigales appellations can be an excellent drink out on a terrace, as long as we order it with the corresponding ice bucket to keep it cold at all times.

And what about red wine? Well, we believe that it can be perfectly viable at high temperatures. Of course, it is better to choose young reds, where the fruit is very present. The lower the alcohol content, the lighter they will be and the more appealing they will seem to enjoy during the summer season. We will talk about serving later on, but let's say in advance that you should not be afraid to chill a red wine if necessary. Putting it in the fridge for half an hour of hour before serving should be enough.

Finally, we wouldn't want to leave out another form of drinking wine, usually much reviled, but which we cannot ignore as good lovers of this product: the Tinto de verano. For those people who have to limit their alcohol content, drinking a glass of cold soda with a splash of a good red wine can be very refreshing, why not? As José Peñín states in a recent article, the Tinto de verano - made with soda or lemon drink - is nothing more than a "hydrating refreshment spiced up with wine".

How to serve them

If we drink the wine at home, we recommend putting the bottles that we are going to consume a few hours before in the fridge, especially the whites, sparkling and rosés, and once outside, keep them cold at the table thanks to an ice bucket with a little water and lots of ice. As mentioned above, red wines can also be chilled in the fridge for a while before serving or when drinking them, using an ice bucket or a cooling sleeve. Similarly, if we order a bottle of wine in a terrace of a bar or restaurant, we should not be afraid to ask for it.

In the case of a picnic-type outdoor getaway, we don't have to give up enjoying a good wine. In addition to the famous portable coolers, there are nowadays many utensils on the market to keep the temperature of wine at any place: the aforementioned cooling sleeves, flexible plastic ice buckets that do not take up much space, etc.

As a guideline -thanks to a wine thermometer we will be able to measure it better-, these are the most suitable serving temperatures, especially in summer:

• White wines: between 7 and 9ºC.
• Sparkling wines: between 6 and 8ºC. 
• Rosé wines: between 8 and 10ºC.
• Red wines: around 14ºC.

We hope that we have contributed with these suggestions to help wine lovers continue drinking wine through the Summer as well. In a coming chapter we will talk about recommendations for storage at home to prevent high temperatures from spoiling the wine.