The Wine Shop Talk
The Wine Shop Talk
Beat the Heat: 5 Red Wines To Chill this Summer
Explore the world of red wines that can be enjoyed chilled, perfect for warm summer days, and practical tips for wine enthusiasts with Sommelier Erin as she shares her tips for choosing red wines to chill and her top selections, including Zinfandel, Beaujolais Gamay, Lambrusco, Frappato, Barbera, and a bonus sparkling Shiraz. Learn about the unique characteristics of each wine and how chilling enhances their flavors for a refreshing experience. You'll also learn some mouthwatering pairing ideas for each wine as well.
FREE RESOURCES: Take a Look 🥂
🍷 ✨ Discover your personal wine palate personality. Take the Quiz
🍎 Grab Your Fall 2024 Pairing Inspiration Guide
⭐️ Check out our FREE resources and guides.⭐️
🍎 Learn about Cider - Read the Blog
Have a question or a comment to share? hello@winegirlacademy.com
Follow WGA! 👇
⭐️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winegirlacademy/
⭐️Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wine-Girl-Academy-102017018628996
⭐️Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@winegirlacademy
⭐️Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/WineGirlAcademy/_saved/
Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/WineGirlShop - more products being added
⭐️Wine and Chocolate Course Udemy
⭐️Bubbles 101 Course - Udemy - Udemy
Today I'm diving into an exciting topic. That's perfect for the warmer summer months. And that is red wines that you are going to enjoy chilled. Yes. You heard me right. Chilled red wines. And while most people may think that red wines are best served at slightly less than room temperature. There are actually a collection of red varieties that are fantastic when served just a bit cooler. And if you are curious about what these wines are, and also, what are you going to pair with them, then you are going to love today's episode. So if you're ready, let's find out what they are. Get started And dive right into today's episode. Hi everyone. And welcome to the wine shop talk. I'm your host. My air nos are, and I am so happy that you're here with me today. If we haven't met before, it's lovely to have you here. And if we have welcome back now, for those of you who are new, you should know that I've been a professional smile for over 20 years now. And it's my passion, my privilege to make learning about wine, not only fun and easy, but also practical. I want to make sure that you leave every single episode with some real life practical tips that you can use right away to help you find wines that you're going to love and enjoy, and be able to share with family and friends. I want you to think of me as your very own practical Somalia. And on that note, this week's episode is filled with fun and practical tips because in today's episode, I made me sharing five of my favorite red wine styles that you can serve chilled. That's right. you heard me, right. We are going to be talking about red wines that you can purposely chill and they are perfect for patio sipping on warm summer afternoons and evenings. So before I share with you my favorite red grape Fridays, I first want to talk about. How do I know which red wines to chill and why are some grape varieties better windshield than others? So let's just do a quick breakdown of how we even determine what red grapes are best to chill. So the first thing before it gets started as always you do you, if you love a certain line style chilled that I don't mention today. chilled red wine. And I would love to hear from you obviously, if you want to share it, your favorite chilled red wine, when that you enjoy the summer. Also, let's talk about the taboo topic and that is, do you put ice in your red wine if you do, and it makes you happy keep doing it. I will recommend however that you may want to try actually freezing some of your favorite red wines. If you have a favorite red that you enjoy and you know, you're going to put ice in it. And the only reason to freeze your favorite wine is so that if you do like to put the ice in your wine this way, you won't get the diluted version of it. When it does melt, you're going to have the same wine in it. And you're just not going to get the watered down version. But if you enjoy the one that you were having with the ice in it, keep doing you, whatever makes you happy. So let's talk about how I choose the wines that we're going to chill. What makes a red grape Friday or red wine, a good candidate for chilling down. And it all comes down to the structure of the wine itself, red wines that have a higher acidity. So that mouthwatering sensation that makes your mouth water. I think about right now, if you were second on a lemon and you're probably not even aware of it, but your mouth has started to water just with me talking about it because your memories kicked in and it's like, Ooh, something sour. I need to start to salivate. So red wines that have a natural, highest duty, many of these are going to be Italian, or Mediterranean grapes. They have a natural, highest density, but also lower tannin. So that melt, drying sensation. That drives your mouth out and red wine can also be found in black tea and in walnuts, the compound. So we need lower tannins. We need high acidity and we need right fruit flavors in that I need to have some definite fruit flavors that are easy to pick up in the glass. So ripe strawberries, ripe cherries, right? Blackberries. We want a bit of that in your face fruit forward flavor in the wine, because when we chill something, it hides some of the aromatics and the flavor. So I need wines with enough personality that even if we chill them, There's enough personality of fruit flavors in that glass. They're still going to be expressive. They may be a little muted, but they're still going to be there. So I'm going to be looking for wines that have higher acidity, lower tannin levels, and some very front-facing fruit flavors, both in aromatics and on the palette. That really comes through in the glass. So those are some of my defining factors or my criteria of what I'm looking for in the great. Now the cool temperature will enhance the refreshing qualities of anything. Anytime you chill something, think about having a glass of cold pop versus warm pot, warm pops, kind of flabby and not very refreshing where. Uh, pop or soda with lots of ice in it is still sweet, but it's also refreshing and it, you get a cooling down sensation from it. So the cool temperature is going to enhance that acidity, that mouthwatering sensation becomes more enhanced when we cool something down. So that higher acidity in these red wines is going to become more pronounced, which is why I need to make sure that I have enough fruit flavor to balance. Now the tannin and red wines is generally why we don't chill red wines. The reason being in that when tannins get cold, it becomes more. Uh, stringent. It's going to be sort of more bitter. Think about if you bite into a cold strawberry. It's not as pleasant as having a strawberry that's at room temperature, or maybe even a little bit warmer than the sun where it's juicy. When we chill red wine fruits or black currents. Or. Uh, cranberry, for example, it almost becomes bitter tasting. So tannins can take on. Uh, melting sensation when they're chilled, but also a bitter component, various stringent, and not everybody likes it, and it's hard to pair with it. So why is what really high tannins without a whole bunch of fruit to balance with it are generally not good candidates to chill down as a wine style. So I'm looking for wines that have this perfect balance of acidity. Lower tannins and bright let's call them bright red fruit flavors that really come through in the glass. And that way they're not going to lose their complexity. Or there are people friendly skills when they're chilled. Now that you know the base of what I'm looking for in a wine, let me break down the five options that I have for you. That I can't wait for you to try this summer. And I'm not going to start with one. That is one of my favorite. And it may not even be something you've ever thought about. And this is Zinfandel and I'm not talking about white symphony Dell. I'm talking about a big strong in your face. Red, beautiful, bold. Zinfandel and Zinfandel is already known for its big bold fruit flavors. Blackberry raspberries, plums. Hints of black pepper and a little bit of spice. Love it. We know that it's a perfect pairing with barbecue sauces because of all the juicy fruit flavors in it. And that touch a really ripe fruit, which makes it a great candidate to chill. Zinfandel also has lower tannins. And so here we have this big bold in your face wine, if you will, dots of deep color, but the fruitiness is so delicious. And so mouthwatering that when we chill it, it doesn't hide its personality. So you can chill this wine and it is perfect. If you are doing, let's say a Cedar plank salmon or a barbecue, and it's really, really a hot day you're out on the patio or hot evening. And a lot of times people will say that they love red wines. But in the summer is just too hot to enjoy a really big glass of red wine. It just feels too heavy sometimes when it's really hot in the summer, we'll zip. Fidel is delicious because here you have the best of all worlds. You still get this big plush, juicy velvet, like texture on the palate with all of these delicious red fruits, and you're going to chill it so that it becomes refreshing and the acidity becomes a bit more enhanced. So your mouth is going to water. And so here, when you're having a juicy burger grilled. Build sausages or grilled mouthwatering ribs, for example, you're going to have all of these rich flavors still in the glass. So it was Zim Manel. It may not have been your radar. You would've thought that potentially it was just too big. A red wine to even be considered is delicious. Now, when I say chill, let's just be clear about how cold are you going to take these wines? I call this cool castle temperature in that when you put your hand on the bottle, it's going to feel cooler than your hand. So you could put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes up to an hour. As soon as you go into the sun, obviously that wine's going to come up quickly, but you're looking at a wine between eight and 12 degrees Celsius or 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. So it gives you an idea of just how cold, but you're going to do you, as I say, and find the perfect temperature. But here you're going to play with Zinfandel being chilled. And I think you're going to find it is delicious and it offers so much flavor as well as refreshing lovely mouthwatering or refreshing burst. Every time you take a sip. My second favorite is this is the quintessential picnic wine in my opinion. You are going to just enjoy this wine. You're going to chill it down, serve it with beautiful. Shukui. Notary. meat cheese, cold chicken, all the yummy stuff. It is just so perfect for easy lunch or cold supper, but visually made from a hundred percent that get made grape coming from the region of Beaujolais within France and burgundy. And this wine naturally is light bodied with bright red fruit flavors filled with cherries, strawberries. We're having this varies. Some people will say hints of banana and bubblegum, these sort of candy flavors. If you will, are coming from a winemaking technique, we use to make it, which is called carbonic maceration, which is a whole other one key topic we can cover on a different day, but Beaujolais is delicious. One served, chilled. And again, around that 50 to 55 degree mark or eight 12 degrees Celsius. And by chilling it, you're going to get that mouthwatering sensation. The acidity is going to, um, become a bit more lively, but the fruit flavor is there. So it really comes alive and on a beautiful summer afternoon, having a picnic with lots of different small bites to choose from. It is just delicious. So I'm excited to have you try that. Why number three is a favorite and this one brings some sparkles into the mix in that this is Lambrusco low. So Lambrusco from Amela Romana in Italy. Now Lambrusco is a slightly sparkling red. So for Zanty. Auntie with, and it's filled with flavors of black cherries, blackberries touch of earthiness. Some people say a little bit of a spice or and it can have a range from dry to sweet making it very, very versatile and fun. And it's so good with burgers and sticky ribs and all things with sweet sauces or condiments in the summertime. Also just a great wine. If you want to serve. A little bit of chocolate at the end of the day, it's delicious with some chocolate desserts. Think of all of those black cherries and Blackberry flavors. And it's just such a nice lively wine to have, but a glass of children Brusco with a little bit of a sh coterie spread. Or some cheese, some classic, just margarita pizza. If you want to do those pizzas on the barbecue, even better or grilled vegetable flatbreads, this wine is so versatile now in regards to, is it sweet or dry in versus style? You're going to look on the back, look at the wine note. If you're seeing a wine note that is talking about juicy, ripe fruit flavors, and you know, it's going to be on the sweeter side, the alcohol is also going to be a clue. So if it's 11% or lower in alcohol, you. You know that it's going to have a bit more residual sugar and be on the slightly sweeter side. That doesn't mean sweet wine. It's just going to have a bit of residual sugar. If it does have a bit of residual sugar is going to be amazing with any. Barbecue sauce. This barbecue sauces are basic vinegar and sugar. They generally strip the fruit out of wine and Lambrusco can definitely hold up, especially if it's touch sweetness. So Lambrusco definitely on my list of. A wonderful red style and maybe not even on your list of wines to try, but limbers go will probably be in the Italian aisle because it is slightly bubbly. It may not have a champagne cork on it. So to speak, it may just be a screw cap. Don't worry about it. Still got bubbles inside, but Lambrusco is definitely on my reds to serve children for the summer. And I hope that you enjoy it also. Don't worry if you feel like it's really economical in that, the price seems too good to be true. This is just a really undervalued wine style to be perfectly honest. And so it is of a great value. but delicious for summer barbecues and really fun to introduce your friends to. My fourth wine to share with you is another amazing wine. And this one is from Sicily, Italy, and this is a grape called frat Apatow. Which is not just fun to say it's fantastic to enjoy it in the glass. But this wine offers brilliant red fruit flavors. So here again, you're getting a glass filled with cherries, strawberries, raspberries. And if you haven't seen this wine before, you may have just walked past it on the shelf, it's going to be in the Italian section is going to be in the Sicilian section. If you have one, depending on where you're shopping, but it may come and go, but it is worth the search. This wine has also got some nice floral notes to it. And some. Herbal notes. So you may pick up some dried herbs in here as well. And if you serve it chilled, it's going to have this nice freshness to it, lively acidity. And because of those herbal notes, it makes it really amazing with grilled vegetables. You can definitely serve it with some grilled seafood Mediterranean dishes. So if you're doing lamb shishkabobs for example, or anything like that, anything Greek for Apatow can definitely go here as well. But imagine a light summer dinner with some. Grilled tramp vegetable platter, and a chilled glass of Frappato. It is so delicious. You can also potentially find Frappato rosés. During the summer they come in in small amounts, depending on your wine shop, but worth the try again, it's classic Italian in that you're going to get that mouthwatering acidity. Really pretty kind of almost purple-y color in the glass, but Frappato is definitely a red wine to put on your must try list for summer. And the fifth point I have to share with you is one of my favorite grapes. if you've joined me before, you know that I love Barbera is one of my favorite grape Fridays, I realized I'm not supposed to have favorites, but I definitely do. And Barbera comes from the Piedmont area of Italy. Piedmont is the home to the big brooding line of Barolo and think of Barbera as its younger brother who's friendly and just got lots to say, and is just super approachable. Barbera is known for its natural high acidity, lower tannins flavors of raspberry cherries, blackberries hints of. Earth and spice come through it. It's one of my favorite go-to pizza wines. It's just a lovely wine. It's a little bit lighter. If you just having some simple pasta with some capers and fresh tomatoes, a little olive oil. Uh, so good. Burberry just goes with everything. In my opinion, I just love it. And when you serve it chilled, it just brings out that naturally refreshing acidity. And it's just so delicious. So like I said, you can pair this with tomato based dishes, grilled meats, roasted vegetables, Easy summer past a fresh tomatoes, eggplants, uh, just so yummy, but with cold dinners, warm dinners, even if you want a make sort of a mid Mediterranean flatbread. So yummy. Now I have one more wine to share with you. So this call it wine number six or a bonus wine, if you will. And that's sparkling Shiraz now, sparkling Surez depending on where you live again, may come and go small amounts of it. But if you can find it, it is so delicious in the summer. It is good 12 months out of the year, but if you love a plush velvet, Mel, feel of a wine filled with blackberries raspberries, dark. Fruit flavors, a little bit of spice, then all the things you love about edit incredible glass of Shiraz comes through with a glass of sparkling Chavez, but with some beautiful bubbles, the bubbles are going to be traditionally made most cases. They're finite. They last long, and this is a wine that you're going to have to play with temperature. I go back and forth. I like to serve it a little bit warmer because then all the plush juicy fruit comes out, but also slightly chilled have that nice acidity. So you're going to chill a sparkling shreds to make sure just like any sparkling wine. It's less volatile when you open it. So it means it's not going to sort of spray beautiful pink foam if you will. But at the same time, as it warms up, it's going to become, use your in the glass. So perfect with grilled burgers, grilled, barbecue, ribs, anything that's got delicious sticky sauce on it. It is so. So yummy pulled pork sandwiches, anything that is yummy and dripping. If you're a vegetarian, you can obviously do grilled Portobello mushrooms with SaaS and all of that yumminess. But. Definitely. If you have not had a sparkling Shiraz, put it on your list of red wines that you can chill during the summer. And it is delicious. It is worth the fine. And because it can be a little tricky to find. I recommend as always pick up a couple of bottles that way you're not disappointed. If you try one and you love it and you go back and then you can't find it again for a little bit. So always recommend picking up a couple of bottles. So there you have it. You have six delicious wines. That you can serve chilled during the summer. So just to recap, the grapes that I spoke about in today's episode, we talked about Zinfandel. Beaujolais Gammy. Lambrusco frappe. Bateau Barbera. And then the last one, obviously the, my bonus is a sparkling charette. So you saw some incredible red wines here. That are delicious, both served at normal red wine temperature, sort of just a little bit cool castle temperature but also delicious when purposely chill them, they are incredible with just a hint of chill to them. That acidity is going to come alive and they become refreshing as well as just delicious, well, those fruit flavors. So if you haven't had children wines, you must put on your list of things to try now as always, if you have any questions or comments about today's episode, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at hello wine girl, cammy.com or come say hello on Tik TOK or Instagram. You can find me at wine girl academy. Also be sure to check out my freebie page on the website. I have a couple of really fun downloads depending on what you're looking for. I have one, if you are Richardson fan and you want to put together a Regency era party. Party, that's filled with some cocktail and appetizer ideas. As well as I have some wine bingo cards. So you can think of this as a fun checklist, if you're trying different wines this summer, or looking for some Inspiration. You're going to find that as well. So you'll find a link to, oh, the different freebies I have right now on the website below in the show notes. And of course, if you haven't yet had a chance to take my signature quiz, which is discovering your wine pellet personality, you're going to find the link to that in the show notes as well. And after taking this short fun quiz, you're going to get a ton of information, all about your wine pallet personality. Along with an entire booklet on wine sales, you're going to enjoy and helpful words that you can use when you're shopping to describe wines that you're going to love. So all of those links are in the show notes below. And as always, I want to thank you for hanging out with me today. Be sure to like share and subscribe. So you never miss an episode, new episodes come out every Tuesday. And on that note, I want to wish you a wonderful week. Cheers to you. bye now know.