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Ice Your Red, Summer’s Ahead!

By Ricki-Lee Podolecki, DipWSET

What’s better than red wine on a cold winter evening? A chilled red wine on a hot summer afternoon!

Most of us swap out our bold reds for whites and rosés at this time of year, but sometimes you just crave the flavours of a red, no matter the season. Although we typically serve red wines at room temperature or just below, there are a handful of fantastic wines that you can stick in an ice bucket to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Four rules for chilling your reds:

1. Choose light-bodies wines. (Low tannin, low alcohol, and high in acidity)

2. Chill wines with little or no oak.

3. Pick wines with lots of fresh red and black fruit characters.

4. Immerse your wine bottle in a bucket filled with half ice and half water. Add table salt to the water if you have it handy. Chill your red for 5–10 minutes; white or rosé can stay in the bucket for 10–15 minutes.

French (and French-inspired)

So many red grapes have their origin in France—but they also have great expressions in other areas of the world. Try chilling these international grapes with French roots: Cinsault, Pinot Noir, Gamay (Beaujolais), and Cabernet Franc.

Thörle 2019 Spätburgunder Rheinhessen, Germany

Craven 2018 Cinsaut Stellenbosch, South Africa

Italian

With the diverse styles of Italian wine, there is no shortage of red styles that can chill, including Frappato, Lambrusco, Nerello Mascalese, basic Valpolicella, Barbera, and Kalterersee style wines. For people who like a little bit of sweetness in their wine, give our famous Roscato a go—it’s a frothy dessert wine that has become a staple for many Winnipeggers.

Bertolani Alfredo nv Oro Secco Lambrusco Rosso, Emilia-Romagna

Tedeschi 2019 Lucchine Valpolicella, Veneto

Erste + Neue 2020 Kalterersee Classico, Trentino-Alto Adige

Civittina 2020 Rosso, Sicily

Australian

We don’t need to tell you that Australia is hot and produces some of the biggest and richest styles of Shiraz in the world. The Aussies quickly discovered that, in order to enjoy reds all year, they needed to make styles that would chill well. Sparkling Shiraz is a unique wine style produced in Australia that contains all the rich characteristics of Shiraz, intertwined with bubbles.

Majella 2019 Sparkling Shiraz, Coonawarra

Odd Balls

You don’t have to stick to traditional wines! A few wines are perfectly designed to be picnic pairings—these come from all over the world and might be a style you have never tried.

Jan Harmsgat 2019 Pinotage Western Cape, South Africa: Pinotage is a crossing of two grapes (Pinot Noir and Cinsaut) created to suit South Africa’s climate. It can have characters of coffee and smoke but still has a similar structure to Pinot Noir, making it a great choice for summer barbeques.

Jan Harmsgat 2019 Pinotage Western Cape, South Africa

Artuke 2020 Tempranillo Rioja, Spain: This wonderful Tempranillo is made using carbonic maceration to preserve all the fruity character of the wine. The winemaking technique used gives it a lighter, more refreshing style.

Artuke 2020 Tempranillo Rioja, Spain

Rabl 2018 Titan Zweigelt Kamptal, Austria: Zweigelt, commonly found in Austria, makes wines with bright red berries, minerals, and floral characteristics.

Rabl 2018 Titan Zweigelt Kamptal, Austria