Skip the Rosé! - My 5 Affordable Summer Wines

Hi everybody! This is Agnes from No Sediment and today we're going to explore five perfect summer wines that will not break your bank. Today is my last video before summer officially starts, at least for me. I am heading into summer break, free of study-related responsibilities, so I wanted to highlight some of the wines I will be enjoying during these hopefully sunny, carefree, beautiful months of the year. Summers here in Latvia are truly magnificent, the nights are light, warm but refreshing, sometimes even spooky. And I find myself thinking about those airy evenings where wine might not even be the center of conversation, but rather something that quietly caresses yet another one of our senses. Cheers and let's get into the wines! I have love and hate relationship with non-alcohol wines. I love the idea, but it is very difficult to find good ones. I do understand the challenges these wines face and the challenges of removing alcohol from wine, so I am trying to stay open minded. And I must admit I am starting to see increasingly better examples. But here's the alcohol does a lot more than just give us a buzz. It is responsible for mouthfeel, texture, and even many of the aromas and flavors we perceive on the nose and palate. So if most of us enjoy wine for its flavor, not just the buzz, then it makes sense why non-alcoholic wines can often feel disappointing. There was a time when more low-alcohol wines started popping up, but I don't think that this category has been fully explored. Because these wines still contain some alcohol, they offer more flavors, better mouthfeel, and overall are just more exciting to enjoy. So this summer I will be enjoying more low-alcohol wines starting with this one La Roche Le Petit Chardonnay. This particular wine actually explores lower alcohol in a more natural way through earlier harvest and blending rather than removing the original alcohol, which makes it more affordable and reduces the energy required for its production. Now imagine fragrant white wine with notes of fresh yellow seedless grapes, spring blossom, and dried tangerine slices. Bone dry on the palate with refreshing acidity but in no way tasting sharp or tart. Yes, I do think that dry Muscat wines are absolutely charming. Unfortunately, they are very difficult to find. There are some in Alsace, France, or hiding under the name Dibibo in Sicily. But if you are looking for pure dry style of Muscat Blanc a Petit Grain, often cited as the greatest of the Muscat family grapes, we should travel to Austria. This particular label, Matta Gelber Muscateller, is exactly what it promised to be. I enjoyed a glass of this aromatic and refreshing wine at the Heurigen, sitting outside in their beautiful garden with live music playing, people clapping all around, and some even singing and dancing along. We were served amazingly delicious simple home-cooked food and cold cuts. I will be honest with you, fancy molecular food does not excite me anymore. Honest home cooking is what I drool over and what I will be choosing every time. It was an amazing evening and I know that just a glass or two of this refreshing simple yet charming and unapologetic wine will take me right back to those lovely memories. I remember the time when I started to work in the wine industry and in my market, Lambrusco was everywhere. It was this violet fizzy drink offering intense nose of strawberries and candied cherries. It usually had a lot of sugar and we would even make wine cocktails sometimes out of it. But then it just disappeared. It either vanished from the market or got pushed down to the lower shelves and I simply stopped seeing it. But over the last couple of years I have been having ongoing conversations with my friends and colleagues about Lambrusco having its renaissance. And why wouldn't it? Just like Muscat which we talked about earlier, Lambrusco isn't just one grape. It is a collective of grapes. And unlike what I remember from my early wine days when Lambrusco was treated as this simple generic style, now we are actually talking about specific characteristics of different Lambrusco varieties. Be it Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco di Salamino or Graspa Rosa. These grapes offer high zesty acidity and they are light in body, low in alcohol and therefore perfect for both warm and cool summer evenings, preferably with light snacks. Especially with light snacks. Think of prosciutto and immediate yes, that acidity will spark your appetite. While you still can find Lambrusco's with some or more sugar, I don't think that this category is going anywhere. There are increasingly more dry versions popping up out there, including this one. Just to be clear, I do not mean that banana and bubblegum flavored Beaujolais Noir, but I mean one of the 10 Beaujolais Cru such as Moulin Avant, Fleury or Morgan. Now I have come to realize that Beaujolais does not always have to play the Pinot Noir lookalike. Yes, there might be some similarities, but Gamay grape can be a real chameleon. Just recently I tasted a Beaujolais Cru blind with a group of other wine professionals and people were thinking of Syrah from Rhone or Tempranillo and some even said Mourviedre. So yes, Gamay can be full, rich and powerful if it wants to be. And those are the styles I will be reaching for this summer to pair with my open fire grilled meats. I can't wait to start the season by the grill, cooking and eating outdoors. And for the lighter, more delicate Beaujolais Cru, I will put them on ice and slightly chill before serving and I will not feel shy to accompany them with grilled fish or fresh salad. They can be lightweight, display soft tannins while retaining fresh acidity. But one thing for sure, while this particular wine La Farge Vial Fleury leans towards the higher price point, Beaujolais and Gamay grape offer amazing quality for a fraction of the price, especially if we are looking at Burgundy. We have been so focused on pale pink Provence wines that we have almost completely forgot and about their top top quality white wines. In fact, we have been so focused on rosé that now less than 15% of the wine produced in Provence is not pink. But in many cases, these non-pink Provence wines are just so much more exciting. For example, I discovered Chateau Romanin when I was looking for quality rosé. And while I do enjoy their pink wine, I was really impressed by their whites. And yes, their reds too, which by the way, show great aging potential. The whites from Provence are what truly complement the seafood focused cuisine here. Most are based on Rolé, also known as Vermentino, with additions of other grapes, some more associated with Rhone, but you can also find Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. These wines offer both refreshment and structure, which is exactly what you need on a hot summer day, sipping under a white and blue striped umbrella. There are notes of Mediterranean herbs, fresh lime and lemon with occasional yellow plum. And honestly, what is it about Vermentino that it always, always reminds me of the sea? These are five summer wines I will be enjoying this year. Let me know in the comment section below what wines are you looking forward to this summer. And for those in the Southern Hemisphere, you might want to look into this video, what wines I am drinking in the cold season.