BoomerGirl Diary

The start of summer seems especially sweet this year because of a long dreary winter and rainy spring. So mark the unofficial start of summer with a picnic in your back yard, local park (if allowed) or apartment balcony.

Cold beer always works, true, but a couple of bottles of wine will really make your al fresco meal a celebration. Nothing too fancy or expensive is necessary; pick a wine with a refreshing crisp flavor that pairs well with summer foods.

That means steering clear of oaky or complex wines, said Jan Henrichsen, wine buyer for Pastoral in Chicago.

Why avoid more complicated wines?

"I think we get three-and-a-half days of summer in Chicago," Henrichsen said with a chuckle. "Usually you are so enthralled with eating outside you aren't going to pay attention to the wine."

That said, you should still make the wine a good one.

"Picnic wine has gotten a bad rap," she said. "Whenever someone has a wine that isn't good they say it would be a picnic wine. Every wine should be quality, whether it's super-expensive or not."

While I focused this week's tasting on white wines, Henrichsen said picnickers can run the gamut from white to rose to red.

Unoaked whites are an especially good choice, she said. Henrichsen likes the 2006 Domaine des Herbauges Muscadet Cotes de Granlieu from France because it is "bright, crisp, refreshing summer wine in the tradition of Loire Valley whites."

For reds, Henrichsen goes for big fruity reds that don't need a lot of attention. Her choice? "Drink `n' Stick" from Some Young Punks (yep, that's the winery) in Australia. It's a blend of shiraz and mataro (mourvedre).

"It's a rich, jammy, steak- and burger-friendly wine," she said. The bottle is fun, too, because it "encourages you to dress up the `50s-style vixen on the front by playing paper dolls."

For roses, she likes a full-bodied pink like the Marco Real Granacha Rosado from Spain because it has "a deep color, more richness, (is) still bone dry, and the higher alcohol means it's great for grilled pork chops and ribs, barbecue sauce and smoke."

The key to any picnic wine is to keep it well chilled if it's a white or rose, and cool if a red. The cold makes the wine livelier and tastier in the heat. Make sure, too, to bring a corkscrew or buy wines with screwcap closures. Don't worry about glass stemware unless you're really putting on the dog; plastic tumblers work fine.