Extra Special Fleurie, Beaujolais, France 2022 (£9, Asda) If we are asked to picture a summer wine, most of us will think of crisp whites and rosés, with and without bubbles. These are the wines that we instinctively associate with refreshment, that we pour straight from the fridge or the ice bucket, that match the lighter foods we tend to eat when the temperature rises. But there are certain reds that also fit the definition, wines that respond just as well to being served with a bit of a chill, and which have their own way of slaking the thirst and matching an alfresco meal. For me, this time of the year always comes with a craving for the wines of the two French regions that have mastered the art of the summer red, Beaujolais and the Loire. While a crisp white will bring the mouthwatering qualities of citrus, these are wines that, in their different ways, bring the refreshment of the just-ripe berry or currant: wines, such as Asda’s Fleurie, that are light in body, high in acidity, and with a sappy quality to their juicy burst of red fruit.
Domaine du Pré Baron Touraine Gamay, Touraine, Loire, France 2021 (from £9.79, allaboutwine.co.uk; talkingwines.co.uk; rannochscott.co.uk) Other mouthwatering Beaujolais bottles that I have loved recently and that would make a perfect match with salad and a steak, a plate of charcuterie or a meze selection (Beaujolais is a brilliantly versatile food wine) include the easeful supple feel and raspberry juiciness of M&S Classic Beaujolais Villages 2022 (£10), the silky, deep immersion in berry land of Thibault Ducroux En Roue Libre Beaujolais 2021 (£18.95, thesourcingtable.com), and the vividly fruit-filled flow of Domaine Chapel Beaujolais Villages 2021 (£21.95, nattyboywines.co.uk). All red Beaujolais (the region does make a little, often rather good, white wine, too) is made from the gamay variety, which is also one of the red grapes used to make summer wines in the Loire, with the summer-pudding compote exuberance of Domaine du Pré Baron’s example from Touraine offering an intriguing point of comparison with Beaujolais.
Cave de Saumur Les Nivières, Saumur, Loire, France 2020 (£9.99, Waitrose) My preferred choice of red grape when it comes to summery Loire reds is cabernet franc, which often comes with a kind of herbal character, a freshening greenness, as well as pencil shaving graphite and a crunchy feel alongside the blackcurrants and raspberries. All those qualities are embodied, as well as a certain racy energy, in the good-value Waitrose stalwart made by the Cave de Saumur. There’s a little more silkiness and refinement, and a startling purity of raspberry and redcurrant fruit, in the compulsively drinkable Frédéric Mabileau Les Roullères Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil; while Domaine Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny 2020 (£16.95, yapp.co.uk) glides and refreshes in equal measure with raspberry, blackcurrant and gentle tannin. The distinctive charms of cabernet franc are not confined to the Loire, or, indeed, France. I have had some lovely, if rather fuller-bodied Argentine examples recently, while Gertie Cabernet Franc 2021 (£29.99, nicholsonswines.co.uk) is a seamless, subtly floral-fragrant take on the variety with an attractive coolness and a swell of medicinally tangy red fruit from Clare Valley in Australia.
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