Summer sips

Pepi California Pinto Grigio ($8)

This is the time of year that requires wines that are lighter, whether red or white, and that can be served cool or sometimes colder — even with an ice cube or two. In other words, porch wines, which are perfectly suited for summertime sipping, whether you’re on a shaded porch or indoors, with the air conditioning on and glad you’re not on the porch.

Porch wines don’t have the big alcohol or tannins (that puckery feeling in the back of the mouth) that heavier wines do. In this, they’re more refreshing and don’t make you feel even more uncomfortable than the heat already does. Doubt that premise? Then taste one of the ones suggested below, and then taste a cabernet sauvignon with 14.5 percent alcohol. You’ll be amazed at the difference.

• Grocery store pinot noirs that cost about $10, such as Mark West from California or the Chilean Cono Sur Bicicleta, are soft, fruity red wines with lower alcohol, and chilling them a little doesn’t ruin them either.

• Italian producers churn out millions and millions of cases of cheap pinot grigio, most of indifferent quality. But some are more than that, including Bollini ($10). Pepi ($8), from California, also is a fine value.

• Vinho verde means green wine in Portuguese, and these wines have a greenish tint (and a little fizz, too). Most are $8 or less, with low alcohol and sweetish green apple fruit. This year, the Sonalto was one of the best, and you may also see it labeled Santola (made by the same producer, but for a different retailer).

—Jeff Siegel

Ask the wine guy

What does it mean when a wine is hot?

That the alcohol is not in balance with the fruit, acid and other parts of the wine. Both red and whites can be hot; you’ll notice an unpleasant feeling in the back of your mouth or even in your nose. —Jeff

Siegel ASK The

Wine Guy taste@advocatemag.com