Here are a few good wines I have had recently that I think are terrific wines to enjoy for the summer. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can drink these wines any time of the year, but when it gets warm (hot) some of our eating and drinking habits change a little. One style of wine that you’ll drink more often in the summer heat is a dry rose from southern France, Italy, Spain or some interesting wines from California, most notably the Pinot Noir Rose from Maysara.

   I think what influences the change in my wine drinking during the summer most is the different foods we all seem to cook more in the summer than the remainder of the year. I grill fish and seafood much more in the summer and with that, a dry rose from Cave de Rasteau or Ch. Roustan from the Costieres de Nimes are perfect, and at around $10.00 the price is right, especially since with a few friends around, one bottle just won’t do.

  A white wine that I just had over the weekend was a bottle of Graham Beck Chenin Blanc, from South Africa. This grape is more commonly known as Steen in South Africa, but regardless of what you call it, I definitely recommend you try a bottle. I had it with a beautiful piece of grilled Chilean Sea Bass. The Sea Bass was delicious and the wine with its great tropical fruit flavor and aromas, crisp acidity and long finish was a perfect complement.

   After the fish we grilled some thick loin-end Veal Chops and with those we drank a new wine from La Cappuccina, in Italy called Madego. It is a unique blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. Wow, this is a wine you must go out of your way to try. The wine is from the Veneto region of Italy around the beautiful city of Verona and will be your favorite wine to drink with just about any meat you put on your grill this year. It has a very intense ruby red color, with a little oak and a hint of spice on the nose. The flavors of berries and ripe, red fruit added to a spicy, medium-bodied finish made this Italian red a huge hit with me and our friends. Even better, it is less than $15.00 a bottle.

 These were just a few that I had lately, if you have found some hidden gems, send them along, always looking for a new wine to try.

Ken Amendola

Wine Supervisor, North Florida