Cool ways to drink your reds

We all need to stay cool at the moment and that includes our wines and let's not forget about our reds too...

Let's keep our cool, whilst others around are losing theirs.

We know it's warm and we can keep the wines chilled but are you comfortable with your red wine in the fridge?

There are wines that will benefit from a slight chill. We always talk about red wines at cellar temperature and bringing them up to room temp to enjoy. Well this Summer weather is way beyond that - off the scale comes to mind!

Getting the wines to a pleasantly chilled level isn't rocket science, however knowledge of the wines is paramount.

Fruit dominant wines are ideal. Look for grape varieties like Pinot Noir (Sierra Grande is great); Barbera such as the Araldica Barbera; Tempranillo, try the Artesa Tempranillo from Spain; Grenache like the Domaine L'Olibet from Southern France and Cinsault. These wines you will find to be of great value and are great for enjoying at parties, barbeques or just for an al fresco dinner with friends. Put them in the fridge or sling them into a bucket with ice and water, then enjoy the crunchy mouth feel of a juicy berry dominant red wine.

When red wines are too warm, the molecules overreact and the fruit pops causing the natural acidity to disappear. We need acidity and minerality to balance with the fruit for complete harmony in these wines. At this moment, oaked wines are probably better left in the cellar until the cooler weather returns.

So dare to be different and get the ice bucket ready for your reds, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

But this still isn't for you, stick with chilled rosé. Try it chilled in a large glass over plenty of ice as they do in the South of France or a ‘piscine de rosé' as they call it!!