mrspjuth

With summer on everyone’s mind, the wine writing community tends to obsess about the white wines that we’ll all be greedily slurping down over the coming months; but the truth is, there will be plenty of red wines called for, as well as roses, this summer.While I am not a huge fan of rich, powerful reds when it’s warm out – the heat tends to accentuate both the alcohol and tannin in a wine – I am certainly not against some lighter reds. I am partial to my Italians (Barbera, Schiava, Bardolino), but sometimes you just want a good Pinot to pair with some rich, grilled salmon.

I like my red wine lightly chilled in the summer. Not only is it more refreshing this way, but the light chill helps compensate somewhat for the warming the wine undergoes in the glass when it’s hot out. In general, a lighter styled wine is better suited to chilling than a rich, bold red, so here are some of my picks for chilling with Pinot this summer.

Read more: http://www.snooth.com/articles/wine-reviews/chilling-with-pinot-noir/#ixzz1LTOUU6OK

2008 Sea Smoke Cellars Southing Santa Barbara CaliforniaOaky and smoky on the nose with spicy tones layered over a core of deep, rich, black fruit. Still a bit tight this smells promising. Bright and rich in the mouth with black fruit to match the nose. The acid is a touch low here lending this a very broad and somewhat flat mouthfeel, but the wine does feel a little tight and compact so age may help brighten things up a bit. There is very nice freshness to the fruit with obvious but balanced oak spice throughout the mid-palate and onto the moderate finish which is clipped by some wood tannin. Obviously very well made and shows promise but the lowish acidity worries me a bit. 90pts.Read more: http://www.snooth.com/articles/wine-reviews/chilling-with-pinot-noir/#ixzz1LTPIdzf8