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All right, so your daddy’s an undischarged
bankrupt and your momma’s got a face like a bag of spanners, but the fish are at
least surfacing in Clissold Park and, in my linen basket, the cotton, Lord the cotton is
high. Summertime is here and we must look at how best to refresh our parched throats.
Sangria has had a rough time these thirty-odd years - the image of outsize, sombrero-clad
straw donkeys and peeling, pink noses is hard to shed but, made well, it is the best of
summer drinks. The quality of the red wine is not paramount but the addition of brandy is
vital. If you have them lying around (don’t we all, darling?) then banana liqueur
and, especially, some Cointreau take it to a higher level still - the quantities depend on
your plans for the rest of the day. Put these things, with abundant chunks of apple, pear,
orange, lemon and preferably a cinnamon stick in a jug and refrigerate for an hour or so
if time permits - if it doesn’t you could swig the ingredients separately and jump up
and down. Add copious ice and more or less the same quantity of good lemonade (or a mix of
orange and lemon) as wine and stir it about.
The Spanish know about summer drinks.The Valencianos drink the euphemistically named Agua
de Valencia, basically Buck’s Fizz supercharged with a good jigger of the
Cointreau you bought for the Sangria. If you didn’t, you can use vodka. No vodka? Try
turps. They use freshly-squeezed orange juice (at least supermarket-fresh, anyway) and
decent Cava - and so should you.
 Let us not, however, sell our home-grown quenchers short. A good Pimms
(£9.99 at Oddbins) is a very gluggable thing on a hot day and should
resemble a fruit salad in a glass. If you don’t want to drink the whole bottle at a
sitting then be sure not to add pieces of strawberry, cucumber and a few leaves of fresh
mint to the usual stuff. If, like most people, your mind is closed to German wines, Summer
is an excellent time to correct this aberration. Ideal for gratuitous drinking as, in
truth, most do not marry well with food and coming in at around 9% alcohol, they fit the
bill perfectly. It is imperative to avoid the bottom-line, branded stuff, but even so,
real quality can be had at prices that reflect our general disdain for Hock and Mosel.
Look out for labels showing a named producer, vintage and grape (Riesling is best to be
going on with). Begin your education with a ‘Kabinett’, the lowest rung of the
QMP quality-rating ladder (which is based on increasing levels of natural grape-sugars).
Ignoring my own advice on specified grapes, I tried Safeway’s Erben
Kabinett 1998 from Franz Wilhelm Langguth at a trivial £3.79, which has a lovely, silky
body with excellent weight and a luscious nose of lychees and honeysuckle. The first wave
of sweet, super-ripe fruit is instantly licked into shape by a rush of clean, green-apple
acidity. Contemplate this synthesis of the sweet and the dry over a couple of leisurely
glasses and you’ll have the key to understanding German wine.
Rosé wines have a similar image problem to Sangria, but there are days when a deep
draught of something cold enough to send trickles of condensation down the outside of the
glass is what you want. Hardy’s Stamp Shiraz/Grenache 2000 (widely available, but
currently £3.99 at Safeway) is a perennially good bet. It always has
good body and a nice tarry bite, to offset the slightly flabby fruit.
American Zinfandels and Rosé d’Anjou should generally be avoided - a rare exception
of the latter is the refreshing Château de Fesles 1999 (Oddbins £4.99)
which has a nice balance of soft berry fruits and tannins. The Cooler
have a good (and rather prettily displayed) selection, including the classy Domaine de
Limbardie 2000 (£5.95). A Vin de Pays from a respected Languedoc producer, it is crisply
fruity, with a nice minerally edge. Domaine de Cray 1998 (Clissold Wines;
£4.99), again a Vin de Pays but this time from the Loire, is surprisingly perfumed with
apricots and has a nice oily texture and some light oak for good measure.
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