Press

White wine, some people love it, others swear they only drink red. But you shouldn’t overlook a nice glass of white wine without first diving in to see what you like and don’t like, avoiding sweeping judgments or assumptions along the way. This might surprise you, but there is a plethora of white wine styles out there, and they go fantastically well with all types of food, even steak.

Warmer summers mean earlier and earlier harvests for wine growers, but what do they mean for us wine drinkers? For those determined to drink red wine, high temperatures pose a challenge. Any drink should have an element of refreshment but once wine gets much above 20 °C (68 °F) it loses its precision and starts tasting more like soup. In fact one of the most common faults in more casual bars and restaurants is to store and serve red wine too warm. I often ask for an ice bucket or, in extremis, an ice cube.

It’s getting brutal out there, and while I am all for chilling down (slightly) red wines, white wines seem the best choice this summer, not least for the kind of food that doesn’t require standing over a barbecue grill. Here are some to enjoy.

A vast blue sky, a backdrop of awe-inspiring snow-covered Andes mountains, and a spectacular pyramid shaped adobe building that looked like a Mayan temple surrounded by vines: that was my first impression of Catena Zapata, one of Argentina’s most famous wineries, on my first visit almost two decades ago.

Riesling from Germany’s Mosel region can be an ideal summer wine — low in alcohol and bracing with refreshing acidity. As with this week’s great value by Karl Kaspar, it is also affordable. Keep some chilled for those warm evenings on the patio. We also have two more reds from France’s Rhone Valley, continuing my theme from last week. These are great for grilled or roasted meat.

Sommeliers go to school for years to learn how to perfectly pair wines — down to the region, vineyard, and year — with any possible dish. No one would expect that level of know-how from the average diner. But with some handy tips from sommeliers, you can make excellent choices when buying wine to go with scallops, depending on how the dish is being prepared.