At last, the sun has decided to show up. And it is about now that any normal person grabs an ice-cold beer, a frozen margarita, or a rosé that has been parked in an ice bucket for three to five business days. Not me – I reach for a red. Yes, you read that correctly, a red wine. Chilled, of course, I am not an animal.
You may think I have spent too long out in the sun, but allow me to introduce you to a game-changing summer drink: Aldi’s Specially Selected Rouge Clair, priced at £8.99 in store. What is so special about it? You cannot just go around chilling any old red wine. So pause before you wedge something like an Australian Shiraz into an ice bucket. To do this right, it needs to be lighter in style and lower in alcohol – something like a Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais. The more tannin, alcohol, and oak in the wine, the more those elements are going to be amplified by chilling, in a bad way. You will usually get a steer from the wine’s colour, which should lean towards light and translucent.
The Rouge Clair is an ultra-light red that has been specifically engineered to be served chilled. Popping a wine like this in the fridge unlocks crunchy notes of red currants, cranberries, and cherries, all in a dry style. I would go so far as to say it is even better than a certain like-for-like wine at £15 a bottle. And it has gone a bit viral on social media too. Online, it has been hailed as a delicious drink, so fun, and a lovely drop.
How to Chill It
If you are curious about how long to chill it for, Aldi takes the guesswork out of the equation. It is the first smart wine, with a thermochromic label that changes colour when the wine is perfectly chilled. It switches from red to blue at around 10°C, almost like a microwave timer for wine, minus the annoying beep. Spoiler alert: it takes a few hours.
How Does It Taste?
And if you have not tried your red wines chilled before, you are missing out. They are even more refreshing than whites or rosés, with bags of red fruit and tingly acidity to refresh your palate. Aldi’s Rouge Clair is made from the fruit-driven Cinsault grape, grown in southwestern France. It is smooth, silky, and should be on rotation in your ice bucket or fridge whenever the temperature soars.
More Summer Sips
If chilled red is not your thing, do not panic. I have rounded up nine other hot-weather palate pleasers to keep you refreshed (between gulps of water, obvs) this summer.
- MOTH Mango Margarita, £4.50 per can, Waitrose – My go-to, bar-quality canned cocktail brand has launched a brand-new drink. Actually, two; they have also come out with a Strawberry Daiquiri. Of the pair, my favourite is the Margarita, with lashings of fresh mango flavour, not too much sweetness, and decent (or indecent) alcoholic heft.
- Kylie Petit Rosé, £8, Tesco – I found myself drawn in by this one’s off-dry, peach, raspberry, and apricot-flavoured spritz. It is described as an aromatised wine-based drink and has apparently become the UK’s number one lighter-alcohol wine, at 7% abv.
- The Best Touraine Rosé, £8.50, Morrisons – I recently tried this at the Morrisons press tasting, and my notes say very, very good. From the Loire Valley, it is soft, mineral with moreish notes of strawberries and white peach. Delish.
- Wind and Waves Sparkling Vinho Verde NV, £9, Tesco – Some sparkling wines can hit heavy on a scorching day. This off-dry, lemon-sherbety, lightly sparkly wine is a cunning alternative for under a tenner. Made from grapes sourced around the Vinho Verde region of Portugal, where they know a thing or two about hot weather and how to keep refreshed.
- Pommery Pop NV, £16, Ocado – Who said champagne was strictly for solemn winter toasts? Not me. This is a cute, 20cl soupçon served from one of France’s top champagne houses. It is literally designed to be sipped out of a straw in a heatwave, metal please.
- Digby Leander Pink, £35, Waitrose – This English fizz is the official sparkling of the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, the world’s most awarded rowing club. Fittingly, it is all strawberries and oar-somely gluggable. See what I did there?
- Aperini Superiore, £6.49, Aldi – Aldi’s version of classic Aperol is only just over a fiver, which is around 60% cheaper than the real deal. It recently scooped a gold medal at the World Liqueur Awards too. All the candied orange and marmalade notes you could ever need.
- Bellamie Spritz (Bellamie Cherry Liqueur, Prosecco, soda), £34, Amazon – This is among the ever-growing line of successors to Aperol Spritz. Only this one is award-winning. You use it in the same way as the orange stuff, mixing it with Prosecco and soda. It brings in moreish spicy Bakewell tart flavours, which could also work in autumn and winter.
- Al Fresco Red, £9.25, Co-Op – Another red wine made expressly for chilling. This is made by a Master of Wine, so you know it has got excellent credentials, from juicy Garnacha grapes. Think bright notes of pomegranate and wild strawberries. It is also only 11% ABV, so smash away.
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