Summer Daze

Wine: Mind the alcohol when buying bottles for balmy days

Wine:Mind the alcohol when buying bottles for balmy days

We are seasonal creatures, even if the seasons are not always faithful to their supposed characteristics. As I write we are in a short interlude between rain and more rain, but it's still nice to think of the lighter, more carefree wines that will suit the balmy summer evenings and languid sun-soaked lunchtimes when they arrive.

If there are to be any rules the first should be that no wine contain more than 12.5 per cent alcohol. This means fresher, fruitier, livelier wines will take the stage, leaving their beefier cousins for the dark nights of autumn and winter.

It means, too, that your barbecue is less likely to become a pantomime of excess as your guests guzzle bottles between burnt burgers. It should also temper the tendency for heads to throb the next day.

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At least that would be the first rule were we drinking 10 years ago, but global warming and a tendency to produce higher-alcohol wines mean that rule needs to be amended to 13.5 per cent to give a semblance of reasonable choice.

New World wines veer towards higher alcohol, but they also offer the kind of vibrant fruit that Irish consumers so love. Where would we be without our Aussie Shiraz, Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc or Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon?

Summer drinking can accommodate them, but there is so much more. Last week we focused on German Riesling; now would be a good time to check out the pleasures of a chilled, off-dry Mosel, with its enticing orchard fruit and perfumes, or perhaps give yourself a lift with a bracing bottle from the Rhinegau.

Alternatively, look across the border and sample how brilliantly the Alsatians handle the another wonderfully aromatic varietal, Pinot Gris.

They are not alone. The Clare and Eden valleys, in Australia, and the South Island of New Zealand increasingly produce some very fine Rieslings.

Our Antipodean friends also do the business with rosé, summer's defining style, but the Old World, in the shape of France, Spain and Italy, offer such a wide choice that it can be staggering. Fancy a pale rosé from Bandol or even Sancerre? Or perhaps a deeper hue from Bordeaux or a pink variety from Tavel or Lirac?

The grape used tends to follow whatever is local to a region; in Bordeaux that could be Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc. The same applies to Italy and Spain, particularly the latter, where a cool glass of rosé hits the spot in those hot summer months. And rosé is generally very affordable.

But we are racing ahead. Mention must be made of Sauvignon Blanc specialities from the Loire, such as Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, with their vivid fruit and tingling acidity, the kind of wine that brightens up any summer's day.

And so to the reds. I have very fond memories of a fine lunch during a holiday in Brittany graced by a wonderful bottle of Saumur-Champigny, a beautifully fresh, fruity and fragrant red made from Cabernet Franc. O'Briens stocks a fine example in Lena Filliatreau's Saumur-Champigny 2005 (€12.99), which weighs in at 13.5 per cent alcohol.

We recently also featured another ace summer option, though one that has fallen from favour. Beaujolais, in the right hands, delivers wonderfully well, whether it be the basic Beaujolais-Villages or one of the crus, such as Moulin à Vent, Morgan or Fleurie.

Wicklow Wines stocks a brilliant producer called Jean-Claude Lapalu; www.winesdirect.ie offers the products of an equally talented winemaker, Jean-Paul Brun.

Don't hesitate to chill the basic Beaujolais - the Gamay grape enjoys being a cool customer.