The Problem With Summer Wines

Today I read a great article on the Food and Wine website about the state of Summer wine preferences in America. It's a bit of a rant against all things prefaced by the summer moniker, basically pointing out that the word has become synonymous with cheap and disposable in the last thirty years. A summer read generally equals a romance or mystery novel, a summer movie features more explosions than substance, and a summer wine tends to be exemplified by two distinguishing features: it's cheap and simple.

The author mentions the obvious choices for front-runners in the summer wine category, cheap rose's and cheap White's; then proceeds to explain why these are not the only (or best) options for consumption in the warmer months. A wine merchant in California says mid-way through the article that "Our number one selling wine in the summer is a $10 Rose." He then highlights how long the cheap-light-wine-in-the-summertime phenomenon has been going on, saying - "It's been our best-selling-summer wine for more than a decade." The article is an interesting look at a big aspect of the wine market in the US. It also links to a list of the author's favorite summer wines (which doesn't prominently feature simple rose's and whites). Follow the link below for the whole story.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/hot-and-bothered-about-summer-wines