"Summer Time and the Livin is Easy"

This is the time of year for dining alfresco: family barbecues, Sunday brunch on the patio, picnics in the park and my favorite, a glass of wine on my front porch after a long day at work.
Spring and summer foods call for lighter styles of wine, but no one ever said we had to sacrifice flavor or quality. Some of my favorite Patio Wines are crisp, dry Rosé and Sauvignon Blancs, any sparkling wine , of course, and my newest favorite is a “box” wine, yes you read correctly my friends. It is Three Thieves “Bandit” Trebbiano. It comes in a 1 liter box! Forget the stigma about bladder in a box wines, just as we have gotten used to screw-tops we will get through this as well. Think about it- these days what we want is the freshest product without the worry of “corked” bottles. This type of packaging is done a lot in Europe and is a very viable way to keep wine at its best.
Rosé
All pink wine is not sweet! There are some bone dry Rosé wines from France, Spain and California that have the body of a red wine in a breezy summer package. All grape juice is white. The color of the wine is determined by how much time the juice is left in contact with the skins. Some of my favorite Rose style wines are Bonny Doon’s “Vin Gris de Cigare” and Chateau Potelle’s “Riviera”.
Sauvignon Blanc aka Sancerre, Pouilly Fume, Fume Blanc
This wine is made in many different styles but what is common to all is nice crisp acidity. New Zealand Styles remind me of pink grapefruit and gooseberries. Some have flavors of melons and figs. Some have oak flavors from barrel fermentation. All are great with summer foods. These are the wines I refer to as “Chill It And Kill It” wines. No sooner has the cork been pulled than we are wondering what we’ll open next.
Sparkling Wine
…Ah, just the thought of it puts me in a great mood. It’s like giggles in a bottle. My favorite summer bubbly is the Il Prosecco from Mionetto. It’s under $15 a bottle, has less alcohol than most sparkling wines and it has a crown cap like an old Coke bottle instead of the usual hoo-ha cage, cork, napkin, blah, blah, blah. Who has time for that when you have shrimp on the Barbie?
Bottom line
Step out of the Chardonnay “Box” and try some other highly swallowable alternatives.
Here’s a tip for chilling wine in a hurry!
Mix water and ice half and half and add a generous amount of salt to the mixture. Don’t ask me why, it just works. 10 minutes in this concoction, 20 minutes in the freezer and even longer in the fridge.

My second Women's Wine Workshop was a huge success! Thank you to all that attended. I hope that you enjoyed yourselves, and learned something. The wines that we discussed were Domecq La Ina Sherry, Brancott Sauvignon Blanc, Campo Viejo Crianza, Clos du Bois Marlstone & G.H. Mumm Joyesse. My next workshop will be held on August 15th, 2005 at Oakleys bistro. Mark your calanders and click here for more info or to sign up! Check out the photo of the second workshop attendees below-thanks ladies! Many, many thanks to Beth McCauley of Allied Domecq from Chicago for being our guest speaker, and for the new wine openers!

L. Cunningham
A Woman on Wine