5 summer reds to enjoy lightly chilled

Some wine rules are meant to be broken… and for good reason.

Today, it’s about personal enjoyment, the feel-good factor, and whether you’re a wine enthusiast or finding your feet on the grapevine, what works for you.

Especially when you’re looking for freshness in a glass of your favourite red, optimal drinking pleasure and appreciate how a light chilling shapes the flavours to become more focused, refreshing, and in tune with a summer heatwave.

Think relaxed, easy drinking styles which put you in a sunny mood and don’t weigh you down with warm, flabby fruit which tastes more like a berry blitz than a deliciously balanced, ruby red.

As a benchmark, medium bodied to heavier reds suit around 13 to 16 degrees Celsius, while lighter reds can take the plunge to 10 to 12 degrees, depending on the character and structure of the wine.

If in doubt, pop the bottle in the fridge 20 to 30 minutes before serving, or bury it an ice bucket.

Here’s what’s teasing us with its ripe, sun-kissed fruit and tasting as bright as the blue skies…

1. El Sabio Pinot Noir 2025, Valle Central, Chile, £12.99, Virgin Wines

Pinot noir is a natural bedfellow with cellar-like temperatures, especially New World reds with their lively, ripe, fresh tasting red fruit flavours, floral nuances, and soft tannins. A firm favourite, this eye-catching label combines pretty aromatics with typical pinot plushness, soft spice, fragrant strawberry and ripe cherry fruit galore, with a long, fresh finish. A go-to with grilled salmon or tuna on a bed of fresh watercress.

2. Ungrafted Itata Old Vine Cinsault 2024, Chile, £12.99 (was £16.99, Virgin Wines

This fruit forward, juicy red sings from the glass with its vibrant forest floor of brambly fruit, hints of violet and blackcurrant seasoned with a touch of sweetness and balanced acidity. A light chilling highlights the liveliness of the wine and makes it that much more pleasurable. Versatile and food friendly, think a platter of charcuterie, summer lamb tagine or rotisserie chicken.

3. M Chapoutier ‘Rouge Clair’ Grenache/Syrah 2024, France, £16, The Oxford Wine Company

When you’re ready to switch out your favourite crisp, breezy white for something refreshingly fruity, lively and flavoursome, this is your stellar summer sipper served straight from the fridge. Deftly blended, grenache and syrah (shiraz) are in the mix, and famed Rhône Valley winemaker M Chapoutier packs a lot of soft red cherries, wild strawberry and raspberry-edged flavours into this fresh, youthful red. One for al fresco entertaining, canapés, cheeseboard and basket of French bread.

4. No1 Valpolicella Ripasso Classico 2022, Veneto, Italy, £16, Waitrose

When it comes to chillable reds, Valpolicella ripasso may not roll off the tongue, but this rich Italian narrows the divide between a lighter Valpolicella and a robust Amarone – just the ticket when the sun has got its hat on. Here, a light chilling enhances the dark cherry, cranberry and sofly spiced fruit, lifts the perfumed aromas, and essentially makes it that much more refreshing. Another one for charcuterie boards, grilled meats and summery pasta dishes such as pasta alla Norma.

5. Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2023, Marlborough, New Zealand, £46 (£40 mix six), Majestic

 Cloudy Bay’s brilliant pinot noir is a benchmark for Marlborough reds, and though some what pricey, worth the splurge. Beyond its beautiful bouquet of raspberries, red roses and herbal notes, a rhapsody of black cherry, raspberry and red fruits galore, framed by sweet spice, herbs, hint of cloves unfolds on the silky palate, with perfectly balanced acidity and long fresh finish. A pitch perfect pinot.

* Prices correct at time of going to press