When it comes to wine, some prefer white or red, while others enjoy Rose during the warmer months. There is a wide range of varietals and regional wines to choose from when you go to a wine shop; some are biodynamic, organic, sustainable, from small, rural European producers while others have a high alcohol percentage. We all have our own way of determining what wine is well-suited for us. Wine basics tells us that we should drink Riesling when we eat Thai food and have a big bodied Bordeaux when having a meal at a steakhouse. What if what we prefer goes against the food pairing and seasonal norms? Well, if you are a red drinker and worrying about how the heat might affect your palate, we have a couple of suggestions for reds that you should sip while soaking in the sunny weather.

Domaine de Veilloux- Cheverny Rouge 2008

Loire, France

Price: $11.99

Michel Quenioux farms 60 acres of land in Cheverny, an important AOC in the Loire Valley of France. His family began farming land around his home village of Fougeres in the early nineteenth century. His estate is over 1,000 years old and he grows his grapes biodynamically and bottles his wine unfiltered. Quenioux has developed a wine system where gravity takes charge and causes the estate to use a smaller amount of energy and minimizes waste throughout the winemaking process. The vines for this wine are between five and 20 years old and the soil is a mix of clay and limestone. The grapes used for his Cheverny Rouge are Gamay, Pinot Noir and a small amount of Cabernets Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Due to Michel Quenioux’s thorough farming techniques the fruit used is always of high quality. This wine is pretty soft with notes of berry, herbs and fresh peas that remind us of spring. The Cabernet Franc adds a little weight to the palate as well as a vegetable quality. This wine pairs well with soft cheese such as goat or with poultry. If you like fish, you should try it with salmon.

Scala Ciro 2008 Rosso Classico Superiore

Calabria, Italy

Price: $17.99

Ciro is a family name and this wine is bottled by the estate and produced from Gaglioppo grapes. This odd ball grape typically produces a wine that is big in structure and tannic.  However, this particular wine doesn’t fight the food and is very delicate on the palate. Its baked fruit qualities actually make this wine very approachable during the warmer months. It is made in stainless steel tanks in order to preserve the wholesomeness of the fruit. The resulting wine shows the typical spicyness of the indigenous Gaglioppo grapes grown in Calabria but it results in a lighter than usual wine.