With the recent lovely dose of Vitamin D, everyone went a bit rosé mad didn’t they? Pale rosé to be precise, couldn’t possibly be seen with anything pinker than ‘Setting Plaster’ in Stamford (and the rest of the world it seems.) The demise of a juicy rosé is something I recently discussed with the fascinating John Hoskins MW at The Old Bridge, but I’m saving that gossip for another time.

Anyway, what I will share with you briefly is that you shouldn’t abandon red wine as the mercury rises. You should never ever abandon red wine. Never ever ever. This isn’t me rosé bashing by the way, I’ve very partial to a dry glass myself but I tire faster of rosé than I do of red. Plus there is never as much choice when it comes to rosé in restaurants, something that ought to change.

I have previously said I was utterly shocked to see my Spanish housemate’s bottle of Rioja in the fridge. But, when I was in Cordoba (Spain), almost every bottle of Rioja that we were served was chilled and it went down beautifully.  Therefore, in hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so bitchy about that £4 bottle from Lidl obstructing my Waitrose-Duchy-full-fat-organic-milk from a cow called Brenda. What I’m suggesting is that you give it a go, next time you’re too hot to move, stick a nice but not too nice bottle of red in the fridge.

You ideally want to serve it at around 10/12°C – that’s refrigerated but then taken out for say 15 minutes before serving, depending on your fridge and how darn hot it is. Do you remember that tape of a thermometer your parents used to slap on your forehead when you tried to pull the sick card? That’s quite a good way to measure it, if you can find one. There is absolutely nothing worse than ordering a red in a pub, it’s served warm because it’s a warm day and then you sit outside in the sunshine while it turns positively soupy, gross.

As a huge fan of a good Beaujolais, particularly Chiroubles, I can say that these lighter reds are beautiful chilled. Fleurie would work too. Then, you have the Valpolicella or a Garnacha perhaps, never try, never know! Basically the rule goes, the less tannic the red, the cooler you can serve it but keep your big powerful tannin heavy reds for a comfortable room temperature, 17-19°C. I should also just mention that if you have a cellar (I do – humble brag) then your wines are kept at a lovely chilled temperature most of the time, but a little extra refrigeration never hurts.

That’s my advice and I have milk in Earl Grey, pineapple on my pizza and I prefer my Coca Cola a little warm with rum in it so I probably wouldn’t take it too seriously.

Ciao for now x