LCBO Food & Drink Summer 2023

Red Alert WINE

Throw away the rulebook. Summer isn’t just about white wine and rosé. Chilled or mixed into drinks, red wine is perfect for this season, too.

BY JAMES CHATTO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY VINCENT NOGUCHI

A seasonal dilemma. It’s a wickedly hot summer’s day and friends are coming over for a barbecue in the backyard. Steaks and burgers are on the menu and the group likes red wine with red meat. This isn’t the time for a precious old vintage that demands reverence and concentration, but even the most easy-going red is going to taste flabby, flat and too strong on such a scorching afternoon…. No worries. Red wine can be cool, too!

A Matter of Degree(s) It’s a given that serving any wine at the appropriate temperature enhances our enjoyment. When it’s neither too warm nor too cold but right at the Goldilocks median, all the components of the wine align—fruitiness, body, acidity, tannins, oak—just as the winemaker intended. For me, that temperature is somewhere between 60°F and 65°F (16°C and 18°C). Now consider the typical ambient temperatures of a summer afternoon:

YOUR FRIDGE 40°F (4°C)

YOUR AIR-CONDITIONED KITCHEN 72°F (22°C)

YOUR BACKYARD 85°F (30°C)

If you keep your red in the fridge, it’s going to be too cold. If it’s been standing in the kitchen all day, you need to chill it down by a few degrees.

SEE SOURCE RESOURCE. FOOD STYLING BY CHRISTOPHER ST. ONGE; PROP STYLING BY STACEY SMITHERS

FOOD & DRINK SUMMER 2023 47