Most of the wines I like at home are not exactly the same as the wines I enjoy outside…and not just out back, grilling or whatever, but outside as in camping on some far back trail in the middle of nowhere. I spend a fair amount of my free time wandering the mountains and streams in the Adirondacks and in the Blue Ridge Mountains in N. Georgia, searching for a flat place to set up camp and catch a trout or three. Beer never tasted as good as it does on a warm summer day at camp. I will be heading out for two weeks of hiking the high peaks in NY soon, and the thought of ‘which wine?’ has crossed my mind a time or two. Now at home, I usually aim for Burgundy, Italian reds and plenty of Provence Rosé, but in the woods, my taste craves something different altogether. I suppose it is a function of the weather; I like to be out when it is cold, not hot, so the wines I select tend to be richer, full-bodied reds with an inherent warming quality to them. So when I am packing up and selecting wines, I’ve noticed that I usually grab Rhône Valley or some California red blends if it is going to be chilly.

For the whites, if I happen to be camping when the temperatures are higher, then crisp, cold whites with vibrant acidity work best for me. Dry Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc work perfectly. Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume are my go-to whites. A bottle of two of a Mosel Riesling Trocken or halbtrocken from Germany are wonderful, too—maybe the best wine for hot weather!

Selecting Rhône or red blends, and Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling, serves two functions…I really enjoy each of them for what they offer, but I also tend to grill steaks, chops, shellfish or fish, and all of these wines work perfectly well with these dishes. That all depends on if I can find these wines in the wine shops where I travel. Usually I cannot, and unfortunately I usually cannot bring them along. The Piggly Wiggly in Noontootla, Georgia (I just made that up) and the Pop’s Bottle Shop in North Hudson, New York (made that up, too; there are no stores in N. Hudson, unless you count Gokey’s…and you don’t count Gokey’s) aren’t teaming up with my favorite wines, so my choices usually coincide with ‘who has what’ that I recognize. I usually end up with a Cotes-du-Rhône or goofy red blend from California and a decent Sauvignon Blanc or an estate-bottled German Riesling if I am really lucky. And they are perfect!

Shayne Hebert, Central Florida wine supervisor. Follow me on Twitter @abcwineshayne.