With summer here, wine lovers need to chill
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When I first visited China as a student many years ago, no real wine culture existed. How things have changed. In Shanghai and other sophisticated Chinese metropolises, dynamic and vibrant wine scenes exist. Back in the early days, one would often see people putting ice cubes and Sprite in their wine. To many wine aficionados, this would be seen as sacrilege.
But when I learned that this week’s iDeal section would feature an article on ice cubes, I thought it might be fun to reexamine this subject in relation to wine. Sipping wine outdoors in the summer heat presents us with a dilemma. Once served a nicely chilled white, you really have only two options. Drink it very quickly while chilled, or face the inevitable distasteful consequence of warm white wine. So in these special circumstances this begs the question of whether putting a few ice cubes in your wine is really such an egregious faux pas?
There are good reasons we usually don’t put ice into wines, principally because it dilutes the aromas, flavors and textures of wine. These are the same reasons why most people don’t put ice cubes into beer, milk and orange juice. But wine is a far more delicate and nuanced beverage and adding melting ice to fermented grape juice throws everything out of sync. Tap water ice cubes also contain the preservative chlorine that, while not harmful to your health, certainly harms your wine.
Another option is reusable synthetic ice cubes or ice balls made of everything from stainless steal and composites to glass. I find these synthetic ice cubes very clumsy in the glass and not terrible effective in controling temperature. They usually make the wine too cold then suddenly loose their cooling ability. The tactile experience of the cubes bumping your lips is also quite unpleasant. So in my opinion, ice cubes and synthetic cubes definitely denigrate the wine drinking experience. Luckily there’s another option.
While composing this week’s column I spoke to a few wine loving friends and some of them advocated using ice cubes made of wine. They suggested using a small amount of white wine to make ice cubes, then the next time you open the same bottle, use these cubes to chill your wine. This sounded interesting, so I tried it myself. The results were mixed.
First, because of the alcohol in wine, ice cubes made of wine take longer to freeze and melt more quickly in your glass. But they did achieve the goal of keeping my white wine chilled without diluting it. When I tried this with fruity and acidic whites the results were encouraging, but when tried a more weighty oaked Chardonnays I was disappointed.
In the latter, the oakiness of the wine was accentuated and the mouthfeel was narrowed. In conclusion, adding wine ice cubes to young, simple and fresh whites on a hot summer day works quite nicely. Most important, even after sitting in the summer heat for 20 minutes your wine will remain nicely chilled.
Suggested wines
One style of wine that can be enjoyed with wine ice cubes is Torrontes from Argentina. This is one of the wine world’s most aromatic and distinctive wines. It also has a pungency and cleanness that stands up to challenging food parings and yes, also to wine ice cubes. When I plopped a few Torrontes ice cubes in the glass, my Torrontes wine was totally unaffected and remained nicely chilled.
The secrets behind this up and coming style of white wine are the climate and the variety. Primarily planted in Calchaqui Valley in Northwest Argentina, the Torrontes variety thrives in one of the most extreme winemaking climates.
This region is located near the equator on one of the lowest latitudes and highest altitudes in the wine world. Vineyards in the Calchaqui Valley range in elevation from 1,500 to an incredible 3,000 meters. At these altitude extremes, solar radiation is exceptionally high in the daytime while evening temperatures drop dramatically.
This pronounced diurnal temperature variation promotes a longer growing season resulting in grapes with greater phenolic ripeness and excellent acidity. In more simple language this means wines with intense flavors and excellent freshness.
The Torrontes grape is a cross between the Mission grape from Galicia Spain and Muscat of Alexandria. Primarily planted in Argentina, the Torrontes variety makes floral white wines with abundant fruitiness. One of my favorite examples is the Inca Torrontes Chardonnay, an 80 percent Torrontes and 20 percent Chardonnay unoaked wine with expressive aromas and flavors of citrus and stone fruit.
Other recommended Calchaqui Valley Torrontes wines available in Shanghai are made by the producers Colome and Lo Tengo. The Trivento Torrontes from Mendoza is also well worth a try.
In addition to their lovely aromatic and taste qualities, these are also very affordable wines. With or without their own ice cubes, Torrontes white wines are a summertime must try. In addition to Argentinian Torrontes wines, other whites that work reasonably well with wine ice cubes are New World unoaked Chardonnays and Italian Pinot Grigios.
While you’ll never catch me advocate adding wine ice cubes to your Grand Cru Le Montrachet Burgundy, feel free to have fun in the sun this summer and add a few to your light and aromatic whites. Summer has never been so refreshing.
Region & Style at a glance
Variety:
The two most important varieties of Calchaqui Valley are Malbec for red wines and Torrontes for white wines.
Key Term:
Diurnal temperature range is used to describe the difference in day and night time temperatures; in wine growing areas often the bigger the difference the better the wines.
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