Drinking red wine on a hot summers day is akin to drinking a cold beer while tailgating at a Pats game in November. You can do, it just takes some determination. If whites aren’t your thing or you’re just craving a California Cabernet here are some ways to beat the New England heat and get your red fix this summer.
Storage Facilities
We’re not going to tell you to run out and buy a $1,000 climate controlled wine refrigerator to squeeze in your summer-sublet. We will, however, tell you that where you store your wine does matter. Regardless of whether you have a few bottles you’re saving or if you tear through your stash faster than Willie Nelson at Bonnaroo, having a proper “cellar” will make your wine taste better.
Light, especially UV from the sun or overhead fluorescents chemically breaks down the deliciousness in your bottle. Heat is the other major vino killer as major temperature fluctuations, even over the course of a few days, can “cook” the once bright fruit in your bottle giving it dull and boring flavors. It’s for this reason that leaving a few bottles in passenger seat of your car on a hot day is a really bad idea. Instead, find a nice cool, dark home for your bottles. Basements are best, but for apartment dwellers, the bottom of a closet or under the sink is a good place for your “cellar.”
The Proper Drinking Temperature
While this might seem overly picky and technical, temperature actually makes a HUGE difference. Think about how gross a warm can of beer tastes. The same is true for wine. The optimum temperature for drinking reds is between 50 and 65 degrees. Since Al Gore would surely hunt down anyone who kept his or her AC at these temperatures, the best bet is to throw your red in the fridge for a few minutes before drinking. Ten to twenty minutes will cool the wine down to a point that even the cheapest bottle will taste significantly better.
Screw it, add some ice cubes.
There are various red wine concoctions that will not only keep you on budget, but also give you a nice sunny day buzz as well. Sangria is the obvious choice as all it takes is some cheap or day old wine, few nips of your choice and all the fruit you can hustle (find the complete recipe on our website).
Another option is to pretend you’re a Spanish teenager and mix up a pitcher of Calimocho. Red wine and cola may not be the classiest way to spend your evening, but it sure as hell may be the cheapest. Grab a jug of cheap red, a two Liter of cola and before you know it, you’ll be dancing in the sun.
