Beverages for Your Garden Party
Robert Morey, Iowa City New Pi Specialty Manager

Spring 2011

I write these words at the end of March, and though it’s officially “spring,” the grey skies, brown earth, and whipping wind show that winter is always reluctant to release its hold.

So it is a comfort to me to know that, when you read these words, it’ll be the time of year when Iowans can enjoy meals on porches or in the grand out-of-doors.

When the weather turns from almost bearable to heavenly to beastly hot, I turn increasingly to wines that are lighter in body, lower in alcohol, brisk, and refreshing.

I’d like to highlight two categories of whites for your drinking pleasure before rounding back to my favorite beverage of summer.

The first white is Vinho Verde. This “green wine” from northwestern Portugal (so called because the grapes are harvested rather early, the wines released quickly and intended to be drunk within a year) is bright, with crisp fruit and a slight effervescence.

Vinho Verde is the perfect wine to kick off your garden party. It pairs nicely with light appetizers or cheese plates. We have a few different Vinho Verde wines to choose from, and they’re all less than ten bucks a bottle!

The second white wine I’d like to spotlight is Picpoul de Pinet. Grown a virtual stone’s throw from the Mediterranean in the south of France, Picpoul is lemony and terrifically refreshing – perfect with shellfish, salads, and other light summer fare.  

I keep a three-liter box of Picpoul in my fridge at all times. As the saying goes, “I like to cook with wine, and sometimes I even put it in the food!”
All right, so now I come around to my favorite beverage of summer: dry pink wine. No, pink wine is not usually sweet, and no, it is definitely not what some of my customers have suggested—voices lowered, eyebrows arched—that it is some kind of “sissy-pants wine.”

Far from it. Rosé wines the world over are predominantly dry, meant to be enjoyed (usually) within a year of bottling. Here are five reasons you should be drinking a lot more pink wine this summer:

5. Aesthetics. Look at it in the glass.  You’d never expect so many different shades of pink, and every one of them is beautiful.

4. Price. You can find a rosé wine for over $20, but most are well below that, with several hovering around $10.

3. Sociability. A fine dry rosé can appeal to any wine drinker, from the greenest novice to the most jaded
curmudgeon.

2. Food companionability. With the exception of Champagne (which is, alas, more expensive), there is no more versatile food wine than dry rosé. Fresh garden salads, stir fry, spicy foods, pizza, even grilled steak can be improved by the addition of a glass of good dry rosé.

1. The most important reason, of course, is flavor. Dry rosé is yummy. And it’s fun to drink.

We at New Pioneer have been dry-rosé cheerleaders for years. Come by and ask us about our current favorites!