Best Wines to Drink at the Beach This Summer!

I’d love to introduce you to my guest blogger for today – Chelsie Petras, curator at Chel Loves Wine.  Just the name of her blog alone makes me want to be best friends with her!

Chelsie likes to drink wine, mustard on her hotdogs (all you ketchup lovers please see here why mustard is the proper condiment), and she enjoys traveling whenever her “I’m a millennial with $80k in student loan debt and try to live comfortably in NYC” salary will allow. Chelsea is now going to educate us on the best wines to drink at the beach this summer.  Enjoy!

What could be better than enjoying a nice glass (or bottle) of wine on the beach? Thinking.. thinking.. nothing comes to mind.

Wine at the beach has always been a preferred choice for me. Wine contains fewer calories and sugars than beer and other mixed drinks do, which ensures you’ll be avoiding that dreaded beer belly. Summer will be here before we know it so it’s time to figure out which of our favorite fermented grapes we’ll be enjoying while basking in the sun (with proper SPF, of course, because no one here is trying to look like a raisin).

Let’s start with the obvious candidates for drinking on the beach.

Rosé

Rosé is the quintessential summer wine. It’s light and fruity, not to mention it is a beautiful color. Typically, Rosé will have the flavors of strawberry, honeydew, rose petals, citrus, and rhubarb. However, this can vary depending on the grapes and method used. Just last year the United States consumed 279.4 million liters of Rosé, coming in second behind France who consumed 516.6 million liters. New York City (not surprising) consumes 20% of all of the imported rosé and men and women enjoy this wine equally! Rosés can be incorporated into mixed drinks, wine slushies, or straight up. I personally enjoy Rosé in sangria (I make a killer strawberry Rosé sangria!).

Prosecco

The best of the bubbly group, in my opinion. Prosecco and Champagne are often confused due to many similarities but the short answer for their differences is Champagne is from France and Prosecco is from Italy. Prosecco is made with its own grapes called “Glera” grapes and is far cheaper than Champagne, around $12 for a good bottle. Prosecco’s flavors include green apple, honeydew, pear, honeysuckle, and vanilla which pairs nicely with fresh fruit, aka a great beach snack.

Riesling

Easily my favorite white around, Riesling is filled with lime, green apple, orange, and jasmine flavors. It is a super fruity and super acidic wine that gives it that crisp “ahh” factor. Germany is known for making the best Rieslings in the world and they’re relatively cheap! $10-$15 for a good bottle. You can try freezing green grapes to use as ice cubes to keep this wine cold. Once the grapes thaw they’ll absorb all of the wine and be a tasty treat to enjoy once you finish your glass! Bonus, the grapes won’t dilute your wine.

I am a red girl at heart. There is just something about a nice spicy Malbec that makes my taste buds feel like they’re getting little wine kisses. However, reds are not usually a go-to beach wine because they’re enjoyed at room temperature (and who wants to drink something warm at a beach?) and have tannins in them which gives you that dry mouth feeling. But never fear red wine lovers, these two reds are light and fruity, which makes them so nice for summer.

Pinot Noir

This light-bodied red wine is perfect for summer sipping. Its dominant flavors include cranberry, cherry, and raspberry which would go just great in a sangria filled with cranberries, cherries, and raspberries. Pinot Noir comes in different styles but the main three are a rosé, a light red, and a sparkling version.  A fun fact about Pinot Noir is that the grapes used to create this wine are extremely hard to grow, which makes finding an excellent bottle of Pinot Noir hard. Wine lovers live for the hunt of finding that amazing bottle! There is a whole movie called “Sideways” dedicated to this addiction! Unfortunately, this also creates a stigma of snobbishness around Pinot Noir, but don’t be that guy.

Chianti 

Chiantis are made from the Sangiovese grapes which are grown in the Tuscany area of Italy. It’s the most popular Italian wine around and can range for $10-$25 a bottle. It’s enjoyed at “cellar temperature” which is slightly chilled. This wine is a light-bodied red with a nice cherry flavor and is high in acid which makes it go great with grilled food. A grilled hot dog + a glass of Chianti, sign me up! It’s the perfect beach bbq wine. When you’re picking out a bottle of Chianti make sure to look for the “DOCG” which guarantees the wine meets the region’s quality standards.

So what did you think?  Which varietal of wine are you going to choose for your next beach trip?

Please take a moment to check out Chelsea’s blog, Chel Loves Wine and visit her on:

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