Year after year, millions of holidaymakers head south to warm, even hot countries, to the sweltering heat, to the hottest beaches. A self-imposed "affliction" accompanies them: constant thirst. What can the wine lover who loves to drink do? Drink, of course. But what?
The much-loved red wine is hardly the right thing to drink in this heat, and what's more, your own wine cellar has stayed at home. A good opportunity to explore the wines of the holiday region: Lambrusco or Primitivo on the Italian beaches, Retsina in Greece, Rioja in Spain, Grenache or Cot in France. But wait: these are not summer wines after all, much too "heavy" against thirst.
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| Summer% holiday% beach. Here on the Mediterranean |
As I write this column - with an unobstructed view of the sea - the last night owls pass by: "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé..." I wonder what has inspired their joy of singing so much, but reduced their vocabulary so drastically? Probably beer, above all. Indeed, for the holidaymaker, the question of thirst - wherever in the world - is quickly solved: Beer is available everywhere, now even in Hawaii. And the sworn German wine lovers can also get their Riesling almost everywhere, perhaps not quite the very best.
For me - I admit it - the agony begins now. I don't drink beer. Not out of conviction, but because - oh shame! - i don't like it because I don't like it. And I drink white wine almost only in homeopathic quantities.
Yet I was already thoroughly sussed out at home, long before I went to the beach. At the end of the last auction before the summer break, the manager said: "Drink a good sip of wine even on holiday". But then he fixed me personally: "And not only rosé!"
Of course, I went slightly rosé. I, the Bordeaux lover, am supposed to be a rosé drinker? How could the auctioneer know my otherwise secret summer fling? Of course, he must have read my confessional column last year: "Declaration of love for rosé"
The remark of a well-known Swiss wine critic pops into my head: "It's hard to score points with wine lovers with provenances in pink. Or has anyone ever been invited to a comparative tasting with such summer wines?" I feel ashamed to be exposed like this in such a wine-conscious society.
So I resolved to be more careful, no matter how great the thirst. I started with water, mineral water. That's where the first difficulty reveals itself. A rift runs through our marital relationship: my wife loves water "sans bulles", i.e. without bubbles, but I love it with.
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| Kir Royal in the Promenade Café watching the people and the dogs |
But that's not all: she loves the bubbly, I rather less so. But on this point we agreed. The waiter in our favourite café, where we spend hours watching the tourists pass by and commenting on their dogs, knows: "comme d'habitude" and brings a "Kir Royal" without asking. Oops, now I have another "tolken" in the wine drinker's notebook.
It gets much worse! As soon as the sun is really blazing and only the sea can cool me down, my insides need something cool too
Freshly daring, I try the tantalisingly colourful, cold tin cans: the latest hit among them - imported directly from America - the black can of "Cola zero" - zero calories. Again I think of the auctioneer who often scoffs when a precious wine goes somewhere, to China, Japan or even India. "It will probably soon be diluted with Coca-Cola!".
I, for one, am now trying all colours and flavours to quench the agonising thirst. "Most of it is too sweet, more like syrup, shows little character and is thin and meaningless." Stop! These are, after all, the words of the Swiss wine critic for rosé.
Good advice is expensive. "La canicule", the dog days, just don't want to combine with a good drop. At the huge weekly market, in addition to wooden clocks, bath towels, tablecloths, leather goods, T-shirts, drinks are also on offer, including wines, of course!
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| At the market: it's too hot for wine tastings |
"Would you like to taste?" - "Thanks, it's too hot!". I did taste then, but only in the evening, at home, when the thirst is no longer so great and the canned aromas have faded away.
A Blanquette from Limoux "Aimery Sieur d'Arques" with tingling "honey bubbles", slightly buttery, with toasted notes and an admirable length. Or from the Château du Mas Neuf, Costière-de-Nimes, a white: flowery, fruity, lively, harmonious, in short quaffable. An elegant, balanced South French wine, with light spicy notes, liquorice, even vanilla. And: from Saint-Christol from the Domaine de la Coste-Moynier a typical "terroir wine", although somewhat heavy, dark, warm on the palate (with this warmth!), yet fruity, nuanced and pleasant. Finally, "Les Collines" from Domaine Ollier-Taillefer, Faugères, made from Carignan, Syrah and Grenache, embedded in the typical "slate aromas" of this appellation, vinified very briefly so that as much fruit and as soft, gentle tannins as possible predominate in the wine.
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| A curiosity: white wine from Faugères% a typical red wine region |
From the same winery: "Cuvée Allégro", a white from a typical, almost exclusively red wine region. A curiosity, vinified from the grapes Roussanne and Vermentino, i.e. from a French and an Italian white wine grape, with a bouquet reminiscent of violets, soft, delicate and yet warm.....
So it goes on evening after evening, almost always with a new wine experience, always with much pleasure after the great thirst. All these wines are unlikely to be exported, will never reach Germany or Switzerland. They are products of a huge wine region. Discovered - not by me (it's much too hot for that!) - but by the daily newspaper "Midi Libre", which presents a "vin d'été", a summer wine, every day, revealing quite good taste and excellent wine knowledge. After all, the same publishing house also publishes the most important wine publication of the South, "Terre de Vins". I am left with only one critical "acid test": is the little known really good? It is!
My reputation as a serious, reputable wine connoisseur is thus once again called into question. What does it matter. It's just so hot, "la canicule".
Sincerely
Yours sincerely
Peter (Züllig)