Summer Sipping Satisfaction Starts With Simple Selection

By Kurt A. Eichsteadt
Editorial Assistant

It doesn’t get better than summer evenings in Long Beach. The gentle breezes … the Muni Band … pop top regattas … baseball and softball under the lights … movies on the beach … and wine, accompanied by summertime foods.

Whether it’s prepared inside or on the grill, food choices range from the simple meals like hot dogs to the more complex dishes with marinades and a wide variety of ingredients. Whatever you’re eating, there’s a wine to go with it.

Here’s a rundown on summer wines and summer foods.

Generally, you want wines that are high in acidity, crisp, with low alcohol content and light fruit flavors.

Young white Burgundies retain a higher level of acidity than their American counterparts and stay crisp and fresh. Sauvignon Blanc is another good choice because of its naturally high acidity and citrus fruit notes.

Riesling is a good summer wine. It comes in a wide variety of tastes from very dry to sweet that have an underlying core of acidity. Rosés work too: dry, crisp and full of flavor. Chardonnays will work, but not all have high enough acidity, so be careful.

Stacy Slinkard of about.com says that Pinot Noir is the all-purpose summer wine; it goes with grilled fish, salmon, burgers and chicken. The other wine that goes with everything summer or winter is champagne.

Traditional summer foods include hot dogs, burgers, corn on the cob, steak and brats. Rieslings and Zinfandels are good for the basics. Chardonnay is the recommended match for corn on the cob.

Here are suggestions for light fish, veggies and if you’re using citrus marinades. Sauvignon Blanc has an herbaceous quality that mates with sauces and marinades that have similar qualities. Grilled fish with dill and lemon goes especially well with Sauvignon Blancs, which are now made around the world including places like New Zealand and South Africa.

Rich fish, like salmon, can stand up to almost any wine: big Chardonnays, white Burgundies, Champagne, Chenin Blanc and Pinto Gris or Pinot Noir. Rieslings are good choice with Salmon because of their natural high acidity.

Heartier foods like sausages, burgers and steaks need more robust wine, whether it is white or red. German Riesling is recommended for pork roasts and lamb sandwiches. Martha Stewart suggests a Beaujolais with barbecue, chilling it slightly by either putting the bottle in ice water for five minutes or in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Zinfandel is bold and can stand up to meaty, smoky flavors. It works with barbecue and steak sauces and mild salsas.

For many people, the summer beverage is sangria, which comes in many varieties, but they are all generally red wine mixed with fruit, sugar, sparkling water and a shot of the hard stuff served in a punch bowl or pitcher. It’s tasty, refreshing and visually appealing, with the different colors of the fruit bobbing in the red wine.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council responds cautiously to questions about wine with hot dogs as follows: darker reds for spicier hot dogs or sausages and dry whites for milder dogs. Wine should not be part of a hot dog barbecue. In their eyes, the appropriate beverage to accompany hot dogs is — you guessed it —ꆱ