Simple Summer Sipping

Food & drink

By PETER HELLMAN
May 23, 2007

Were I to check in for a brain scan as Memorial Day weekend approaches, it would surely show a newly inactive zone. It's where serious thoughts about wine are generated. Call them winter thoughts, as in: Would this rather tough red Bordeaux shed its edgy tannins with two more years of bottle age? Will the mushroomy barolo or the spicy shiraz go better with the pappardelle with wild boar ragu? Once the balmy days come, I no longer care a whit about such ponderous questions. Now is the season for wine to lighten up, and for any and all thoughts about it to do the same. One of the cyclic pleasures of the grape is that it conveniently provides wines in tune to each season even as others tune out. Right now, rosé comes to the forefront, just as it always does when local azaleas fade out. Rosé is the natural occupant of ice buckets on patios, waterfront decks, or blankets spread out in a glade or on a concert night at the Sheep Meadow. There's no better choice for a salad niçoise, chicken salad, or a tomatoey seafood pasta.

More delicate dishes such as underlying sweetness, like sautéed local flounder, scallops, or crab cakes, do best with graceful, lightbodied wines with a whisper of their own sweetness. Vouvray from the Loire is good, German riesling even better. With alcohol levels typically between 7% and 10%, these scintillating whites will do no damage, even if you call for an extra bottle or two. For richer flavored seafood — lobster, salmon, or striped bass — my winter choice might be a full, minerally chardonnay, but warm weather makes me hanker for the floral notes of viognier. It's a wine to engage the sensuality in you, not the Schopenhauer.

Warm weather reds diverge from winter versions in that they ought to be able to take a light chill. Stepping effortlessly into that role are the gamay of Beaujolais, or a Bardolino from Veneto, with their up-front fruitiness and backdoor tannins. These wines make fine partners to fried or grilled chicken or burgers. For a wine to stand up to more substantial meats such as barbecued steak or lamb, try a modestly priced, non-cerebral, unshy red such as Goats Do Roam from South Africa or a California zinfandel that avoids over-the-top alcohol, such as Simi's 2005 Sonoma bottling (see below).

What's the proper dress for a couple of wine bottles on their way to a picnic or a boating excursion this season? Mine are going to slip into the double-pouched, well-sewn, BuiltNY (albeit made in China) neoprene wine carrier in a snazzy new design of awning stripes that look to be inspired by the painter Morris Louis ($18 at Zabars). They'll keep a chill on wine for two hours, or longer if you toss a few ice cubes into the tote.

RECOMMENDED WINES

FOR SUMMER

Pink Criquet 2005, Bordeaux Rosé Unusually velvety and elegant for a rosé, thanks to a blend of top quality merlot and cabernet sauvignon. From Chateau Lassegue in Saint Émilion, now under ambitious new ownership. ($16 at Sherry-Lehmann, sherrylehmann.com.) Screwcapped.

Wölffer Rosé 2006, the Hamptons, Long Island If you favor local wine when on summer vacation in Europe, why not do it here? This rosé, a catchall of red and white grapes, is juicy and bright — all that rosé needs to be. ($10 at Zachys, zachys.com.)

Trembley Sauvignon Blanc 2005, Quincy In the bad old days, Quincy could be a mean quaff. Better winemaking and warmer ripening seasons in this obscure Loire appellation conspire to create this wine's onrushing aromas and flavors of fresh herbs and citrus. Classic. ($19 at Crush Wines, crushwineco.com.)

Georges Duboeuf Fleurie 2005 The lively, soft-contoured fruit of the gamay grape is energized by a great vintage in Beaujolais. And yes, this is a wine that blooms when moderately chilled. ($11.69 at Gotham Wines, gothamwines.com.)

Goats Do Roam 2005, Western Cape, South Africa Erupts in a big bang of dark fruit flavors. No nuances here, just a wine to stand up to whatever comes off the grill. ($10 at PJ Wines, pjwine.com.)

Simi Zinfandel 2005, Sonoma Darker than most zins, with ripe raspberry aromas and deep dark berry fruit flavors edged by black pepper. A dollop of petite syrah firms up this wine. Kudos to winemaker Steve Reeder for showing that you can make fine zinfandel at a mere 13.5% alcohol. ($16 at Wine Library, winelibrary.com.)