Why do they call it the "dog days of summer" anyway? I can't imagine dogs liking this heat and humidity any more than we do.
Turns out there's a stunningly obscure and irrelevant explanation that has nothing to do with overheated pooches. To ancient Romans, these days mark the time of year when Sirius, the "Dog Star," is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).
Information of little value unless it can win you a bar bet.
Still, everybody talks about the weather. And, by golly, wine fans can do something about it.
We can drink low-alcohol wines. Why? Too much alcohol can make a wine (and a wine drinker) feel hot, whatever its temperature as measured by the thermometer.
In cooler weather people, especially Americans, like big, bold, alcoholic wines. A hale and hearty cabernet sauvignon can have more than 14 percent alcohol. So can big, fat California chardonnays. Muscular red zinfandels regularly top 15 percent alcohol, putting them only a point or two below port wines, many of which have 17 percent.
What we wine sippers can do is find wines with less than 13 percent alcohol, which can seem refreshingly cooler than their boozier brothers and sisters. These are mostly white wines, or at least roses.
How to make wines with lower alcohol? Easy. Pick the grapes less ripe. Extra ripeness creates more sugar in grapes, which ferments into alcohol.
Another way: Riesling grapes are traditionally fermented quickly, stopping before all the natural sugars are turned into alcohol. It makes wines that are 7 to 11 percent alcohol. And, since some sugar remains, lightly sweet.
Champagne, Spanish cava, Italian prosecco and California sparkling wine are routinely made of grapes picked less ripe, because winemakers want crisp acids to add to the prickly effects of the bubbles.
Here are some nice, cool, low-alcohol wines to help you through summer.
