Picnic drinking, I always think, is as much about the mood as the food. It’s not an excuse for drinking badly but quaffing joyfully: a picnic wine, even a red, needs to be cool and thirstquenching – what the French call a “vin de soif”. It doesn’t matter what you drink it in, although it’d be nice to have a glass rather than a plastic cup. It needn’t have a stem, though: a Duralex tumbler is fine.
Rosé is generally regarded as the quintessential picnic wine, but if you want to try one that’s a little different, splash out on the appropriately named Thirst Gamay 2014 (£10 Les Caves de Pyrène, £11.99 Handford Wines; 11.5% abv), from South African producer Radford Dale and made from the same grape as beaujolais. It’s dry, slightly hazy and tastes of freshly picked strawberries, which belies the frequently expressed criticism from the wine establishment that all natural wines taste of cider. Even the relatively conservative wine magazine Decanter awarded it 91 points.
In fact, natural wines, with their fresh uncomplicated flavours, work particularly well for picnics. Another I’d happily take along would be the appealingly soft, lemony Ciello Bianco Catarrato 2014 (£7.95 Vinoteca; 13% abv), from Terre Siciliane, which is almost like a cross between a cloudy apple juice and a white wine. Think of it like drinking a wheat beer. Or try the vibrant, juicy Côtes Forez Volcanique Rouge 2014 (12% abv), which is pure happy juice and which would be perfect with today’s turkey koftas in Yotam’s column. That, too, comes from Les Caves de Pyrène at £9.90. (If you’re interested in exploring natural wines, by the way, the Raw Artisan Wine Fair is on in London next weekend.)
In terms of practicalities, of course, there’s a great deal to be said for a screwcap, which means it’s not a disaster if you forget the corkscrew. I love the fragrant, floral Verus Riesling 2013 (£11.99; 13% abv), from Slovenia – that’s one for sipping while you dabble your feet in a stream. It’s one of an excellent range of the same producer’s aromatic wines imported by the Real Wine Company.
If it’s a teatime rather than a lunchtime picnic, crack open the crown cap on a bottle of Innocent Bystander’s delectable Pink Moscato 2014 (5.5% abv), which is on promotion at Waitrose for £6.74 until next Tuesday; you can also buy it by the half-bottle for £5.70 from thedrinkshop.com, or for £5.99 at Rannoch Scott. Apparently the Aussies drink it for breakfast, but I’d fancy it with some nice little raspberry friands.
