Vale Dos Pombos Vinho Verde, Portugal 2021 (£6, The Co-op) In this summer of insane heat, we’ve all had plenty of opportunities to work out what’s best to drink when the goings got too hot. As in all extreme situations, there may well be a seeking-out of the comforts of long-gone safer-seeming times: a can of 1980s-style shandy or a stubby of the French version Panaché was what I found myself craving on one particularly sweltering afternoon. Whatever attributes it might have, bubbles, of varying degrees of frothiness and force (even a very slight tingle of spritz will do) seem to be a must for heatwave drinks, which I reckon has something to do with a barely conscious association of fizzy liquids with the cooling frothing waves of the sea. The other rule: low – if not (necessarily) no – alcohol, which explains the attraction of wines such as traditional Vinho Verde from northern Portugal, with, in the case of Vale Dos Pombos, a just-perceptible little prickle of CO2, and a pleasingly green apple sour-tang to go with its fruit-salad flavours.
Nivola Lambrusco, Emilia-Romagna, Italy NV (£14.99, or £11.99 as part of a mixed case of six bottles, majestic.co.uk) The Italians, who I understand have had some years of experience with the kind of temperatures we’ve been enduring, are absolute masters of the light and the fizzy. Prosecco, which often clocks in at about 11% abv or less, is the most famous example, of course, and that sweetly soothing cream soda foam, with or without a spicy seasoning of Campari or, if your sweet tooth must, Aperol, is almost the Platonic form of the refreshing beachside drink; Aldi Organic prosecco (£7.49) offers the experience for a very realistic price. I can’t quite imagine drinking it around the pool, but the darkly bubbling Italian sparkling red wine, Lambrusco, is every bit as good as prosecco in the heat. Wines such as Nivola or the even more vivid and vivacious Venturini Baldini Montelocco Lambrusco Rosso Biologico (£15.99, corksofbristol.com) are also 11% or thereabouts. And if prosecco is like a dripping sweet pear, these Lambruscos work their cooling mouthwatering magic like a cool draught of dark, tart-tangy, sappy blackberry and black cherry juice.
