Food&Wine – Why you should chill your red wine this summer

by Zachary Sussman

And the best under -$20 bottles to chill.

Last summer, I encountered it everywhere, almost like an invasive species. On front stoops and restaurant terraces. At parties and backyard barbecues. By the pool. At the park. Even at the beach. Wherever I turned, there it was: bottle after bottle of rosé.
That’s why, this season, I’m making the case for an equally important but chronically neglected category of summer wine. I’m not referring to crisp, steely whites like Sancerre or Chablis, though they’re rarely a bad idea. In fact, I’m not referring to white wine at all—but to that little-known, misunderstood species, the “chillable” red.

[…] Chillable Reds from Italy, Austria and Beyond

The French, of course, aren’t the only ones to have perfected the style.
Across the boot of Italy, there is a tradition of producing wines for everyday drinking that often show best with a chill. In Piedmont, the land of muscular Barolo and Barbaresco, you’ll be far more likely to find locals drinking bottles like the Elvio Tintero Rosso ($10), a lip-smacking, herbaceous blend of native grapes (including Barbera and Dolcetto), perfect for a caprese salad sliced from the season’s first heirlooms. Further south, a wine like the Valle dell’Acate Vittoria Frappato ($17) highlights Sicily’s cheerful side.

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