Good libations: Refreshing drinks for summer picnics
Rain may cancel play but at least you'll have good wine
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‘You can plan a pretty picnic but you can’t predict the weather.’ It may be a cliche but, as anyone who’s tried to plan an al fresco event in the UK knows all too well, there’s wisdom in the idiom. And, while 2024 may be proving a kinder summer than most, one needs only cast their mind back to the many, many drizzly picnics of years gone by to know it’s unlikely to last forever. The hope that this nefarious psychosis in the London weather system will, at some point, be replaced by something more gentle, friendly and eco-conscious is what’s keeping us going in the struggle against bi-polar conditions that genuinely mean sun-drenched, wine-fuelled picnics can turn into a scene from Waterworld within minutes.
If you should find your own al fresco celebrations being liberally doused, these are the summer drinks to save from being sucked into the nearest storm drain. All are worth getting at least mildly soggy for…
Vinca wines
We should have long got past the notion that canned wine will inevitably be horrible. But, like the continued baffling popularity of Gregg’s sausage rolls and Paolo Coelho novels, we are still failing to differentiate modernity from hackneyed myth. Because canned wines (or at least a fair number of them) have been good to excellent for ages now. And few do the concept better than Vinca. Its organic Nero D’avola & Frappato uses 80 per cent nero d’avola and 20 per cent frappato, both from Sicily, to create a zesty, smooth red with notes of strawberry and pomegranate. Its organic white is very decent too – just don’t blame Vinca if you leave the cans out in the sun for three hours at a picnic and they’re too warm. That’s not the fault of canned wine. That’s down to you.
Think prosecco
It’s a trick as old and obvious as a white goods hustler offering you an extended warranty on your fridge freezer. Putting extra sugar into prosecco to hide the fact it was made from lousy grapes is the modern equivalent of the ancient Roman tendency to put lead into wine to sweeten it. It’s not quite as lethal, of course, but still makes for a very poor pour. Think is a UK brand whose prosecco and pinot grigio have only 450 calories per bottle, or 75 calories per glass. That’s astonishingly low – meaning there’s no hiding place for shoddy grapes. Its (naturally vegan and organic) prosecco is a genuinely lovely creation; made from Treviso’s Glera grapes and releasing some symphonic notes of citrus, apple and sourdough toast. It’s (softly) marketed at drinkers looking to shed a few pounds but, frankly, this is an excellent summer tipple even if you don’t care one jot about your waistline and are planning to accompany a bottle of this with a cheese board the size of Croydon.
Niche canned cocktails
Based in Norfolk, and soon to be served from the trollies that trundle up and down the carriages on East Anglia trains, Niche offers a range of canned cocktails that will definitely make breaking down outside Kings Lynn due to a ‘cat on the line’ infinitely more tolerable. The cans have a nicely mottled feel to them and, although the range sticks to the classics, they’re done extremely well – particularly the Old Fashioned, which is impressively punchy with an orange flavour that feels authentically tangy. Full steam ahead.
Cardrona Rose Rabbit Orange Liqueur
Made by Desiree Read’s Cardrona Distillery, located in the far flung town of Wanaka in the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island, her Source gin has already received very respectable reviews worldwide. The Rose Rabbit orange liqueur uses Kiwi orange peel in the distillery’s own, un-aged single malt spirit to create an exceedingly pleasant, sweetly malty, zesty tipple which works wonderfully in a cocktail or on its own with a rattle of ice cubes. At 47% ABV you probably don’t want to go overboard here but, to get you started on a summer’s afternoon on the nearest available balcony, this makes for a great accompaniment toa New Zealand soundtrack. Yes to Lorde. Never to Crowded House.
Fattoria La Vialla Mussantino Selvatico
Luxury London’s vineyard of the year for 2023 has not sat on its barrels and soaked up the adulation back in Tuscany. Its Mussantino Selvatico is a slight misnomer, however. ‘Selvatico’ means ‘wild’ but the Monet-esque pastel pink hue and teasingly small bubbles of this sparkling rose are far more coquettish and demure than the name suggests. Pino nero grapes tend to grow exceptionally well in the corner of Tuscany where Fattoria is located and the result is an effervescent wine with some deft touches of daisy, jasmine and banana. The most effortlessly more-ish rosé of the summer, investing in a case of this to take your barbecues to the next level.
James Gin American Mustard Gin
Of all the former Top Gear presenters whom a rational person would want to converse with over a pint, James May always seemed to me to be the most palatable, if only from a sartorial perspective. His lack of stone wash denim (Clarkson) and Cuban heels (Hammond) alone make him a tad easier on the eye – and the gin he’s created with Hugh Anderson of Downtown Distillery in Wiltshire is equally convivial, despite its tasting notes. For this gin is imbued with mustard and pickles; an ostensibly self-consciously ‘wacky Dad gift’ creation which, surprisingly, actually tastes rather good. The whole shebang is joined with dried tomato, ginger, rosemary, cubeb pepper, and bay to create a toothsome, savoury tipple that is the keystone to May’s ‘Bloody May’. This is a cocktail that simply wouldn’t work for his farm-owning co-presenter. ‘Bloody Clarkson’ just sounds like something you’d shout out of a car window.
Caorunn Gin
Don’t worry if the pronunciation of this gin is a struggle; the phonetic is printed on the label to help – ka-roon. Distilled in what the makers claim is the world’s only working copper berry chamber (and who are we to argue?) this clean-as-a-whistle-rubbed-with-Dettol gin is made at the Balmenach Distillery in the Speyside region of the Scottish Highlands. This, of course, is whisky country par excellence, but this juniper intruder is a welcome outlier, chiefly due to its somewhat Presbyterian commitment to native Celtic ingredients, all of which are found within ten minutes’ walk of the distillery itself. If the distillery were made in central Greenock, using ingredients found nearby, then the taste would, I fear, be more redolent of two-day-old-Daily-Record-racing-pages and exhaust fumes. Thankfully, this bottle is imbued with bog myrtle, heather, Cold Blush apple, dandelion and rowan berry – which translates to, yes, caorunn in Gaelic. This makes for a citrusy, very slightly peppery, but beautifully clear gin. Kirstie Allsopp was right all along – location really is everything.
Wrexham Lager
Until such a time as Sophia Loren and Kim Novak buy Dagenham and Redbridge FC (watch this space) then there’s no doubt that the most fascinating story in the ‘Hollywood stars buy British football clubs’ saga is the one that started it all off; namely Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who purchased Wrexham FC back in 2021. Three years on, and two promotions later, the Red Dragons have gone from playing Boston United to taking on Birmingham City in League One next season. Given the whole saga has been documented in a Disney documentary, the club’s shirt sponsors are now United Airlines – a far cry from the 1990s when Wrexham Lager was the brand emblazoned on the red shirts. The beer itself vanished for some time in the Noughties but is now back with a premium pilsner. Once a staple on the shelves of Harrods and, bizarrely, the only lager chosen for the Titanic, the beer is brewed using a mix of premium imported German malts and water from the Wrexham area, giving the beer a consistent blend of subtle malty notes and a crisp taste. Get in there quick before Budweiser start making inroads into this most refreshing of footballing tales.
Le Coste Rosato
We’re big fans of the Oranj wine bar, despite it being one of the hardest to find in all of London. It’s worth hunting down the anonymous, unmarked door on Bacon Street in Shoreditch for its superbly original range of natural wines. Which makes sense given it began as a wine delivery service during lockdown. Its easy-to-navigate website is far from a headache-inducing taxonomy of gewurztraminers and grechettos intended only for a hard core already clued up on natural wines. Currently on offer to wing its way to your front door is its Le Coste Rosato 2021. A rosé made from directly pressed Aleatico from 50-year-old vines, it’s a lightly floral and almost worryingly easy to drink tipple which goes extraordinarily well with a bowl of lightly salted crisps. https://oranj.co.uk/products/rosato-2022
No.3 gin
The number three here refers to the address on St. James Street that, since 1698, has been home to the vintners Berry Bros & Rudd, a gloriously Dickensian curiosity shop of creaking floorboards, vino panjandrums and hysterical prices. Produced in a 100-year-old, brick-encased, copper still, this gin – containing coriander, angelica root, cardamom, grapefruit, sweet orange peel and juniper – was created by David Clutton, the only man to hold a PhD in gin. It’s been voted the World’s Best Gin on four occasions and, as someone with a mere Blue Peter badge in G&T drinking, it is, even to my tyro taste buds, a particularly fine and elegant tipple; as dry as the Private Eye ‘Rotten Borough’s column, but not nearly as hard to digest.
Gruber Röschitz Grüner Veltliner
Gruber Röschitz is a winery in the Weinviertel wine-growing region of Niederösterreich, Austria, a nation whose exports are given only the most fleeting of mentions on most UK wine lists. In these vineyards, clovers are planted in every row, supplying nitrogen, aerating the soil and, frankly, giving the ‘Heidi’ vibe an even greater injection of bucolic purity. This is a subtle number for sure; the colour is a sunny, creamy hue of pale yellow and I got a lingering taste of mellifluous peach, quince and hay bales on my tongue. Languorous, warm and seemingly effortless.
The Source Cardrona gin
And so to the Cardrona Valley in the Southern Alps of New Zealand for this exceptionally well-crafted gin, fused from a mix of locally-foraged rosehip, together with traditional juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, lemon and orange zest. The bottle is chic enough to maintain constant ‘front of cabinet’ status and the orange undertow isn’t too astringent. It comes with enough sunny intent to make you want to throw the windows open and drink this on the balcony, regardless of the drizzle.
Two Shores Irish rum
There are only three rum producers in all of Eire, which is about three more than I expected to find. The tempests that blast through the Emerald Isle whenever I visit do not seem to make for a natural environment good for a sugar cane harvest. Which is probably why Two Shores gets its sugar cane from Panama, where it’s aged for nigh on a decade in American bourbon casks, before coming to the west coast of Eire to be aged for at least six more months in 19-year-old Irish casks. It turns out that Panama-meets-the-peat-moors is a rather good idea; this is a rum that has taken its time to get here and the flavours, particularly in the Premium Golden Rum, are velvety, blowsy, bosky and imbued with the scent of both sunshine and storms. Handsome.
Aphro palm spirit
Our global, boozy whirlwind continues with this new arrival from Ghana, West Africa, a sui generis, and rather vibrant triple-distilled, organic palm spirit. It’s tapped from the tropical date and coconut palm trees of Ghana and comes in two flavours: the Nubi has hints of flamed pineapple, passion fruit and honey; while The Moor has ginger, local spices and Hwentia pepper. Best of all, you really don’t need to do anything other than pour it straight into the glass with one large ice cube. Not nearly as sweet as you might expect, it’s well overdue for palm wine to start making an impact here.
Bareksten Botanical aquavit
To the frozen tundra of Norway, a place where summer simply means shedding one of your seven layers of woolly jumpers. Aquavit originated in Norway in 1531 and has been remarkably effective at getting Norwegians drunk in the shortest possible time ever since. Though we shouldn’t be so dismissive; aquavit can actually be a very high-quality spirit. This botanical aquavit is crafted around a potato-based spirit and flavoured with classic aquavit botanicals, such as caraway and fennel. It’s then rested in Oloroso sherry casks and, if you want some true Scandi cred points, should be served very, very chilled in very small glasses and raised among friends to arbitrary toasts, such as the release of a new A-ha greatest hits compilation.
Batch & Bottle Passionfruit Martini
In our now post-pandemic era, the phenomenon of pre-mixed cocktails will be news to no one. After all, ordering in a batch of pre-prepared martinis to go with your finish-at-home meal kit was about as wild as Friday night could get during lockdown. And while restaurants and bars are back with a vengeance, it seems the cocktail delivery is here to stay, with players like Batch & Bottle raising the bar with its commitment to premium spirits and bar-worthy ingredients. Its latest release is a classic Passionfruit Martini made using Icelandic Reyka Vodka – all you need do is chill and pour.
Tom Savano Cuban Revolutionary Mojito
Another contender in the pre-made cocktail scene, Tom Savano’s handcrafted cocktails each take their inspiration from far-flung destinations – making them the ideal serve to elevate summer picnics. The menu on offer is vast, spanning margaritas and martinis to gimlets and negronis, but, for founder James Kerslake it all began with a mojito – so we suggest that’s where you start too. Blended using Cuban rum hand-infused with organic mint, alongside lime juice and Demerara sugar, it’s the ultimate summer refresher.
Della Vite Prosecco Rosé
Despite its classic counterpart having long been the official drink of hen parties and bottomless brunches for many years, Prosecco Rosé only began hitting shelves in 2021, after receiving official approval to use the DOC name from the Italian government. Perfect timing, then, for Della Vite, the vegan Prosecco brand from the Delevingne sisters which launched in August 2020 and has just released its first rosé sparkling wine. Created using grapes grown in Valdobbiadene, at the foot of the Dolomite mountains, by a winemaking family that has been in the business for three generations, the result is a light, fresh and aromatic wine with a creamy finish and delicate bubbles. Saluti!
Berry Bros. & Rudd 2022 Provence Rosé
Storied London wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd recently announced its ambition to become carbon net-zero by 2030 and, with the release of its 2022 Provence Rosé, it’s showing it means business. Made for BBR by the Château la Mascaronne vineyard, its capsule-free bottle does away with the environmentally-damaging foil casing traditionally used to protect the cork, while customers will also be able to return wine corks to BBR’s stores to be recycled or reused (natural cork is not widely accepted at UK recycling centres). Sustainability aside, this is also a fantastically dry, medium-bodied rosé perfect for summer picnics and BBQs.
The Palm by Whispering Angel
We’ve long been put off (perhaps unfairly) by Whispering Angel due to its name, which always reminds me of the type of perfume you see in the reduced-to-clear section of a provincial branch of Superdrug. But now, from the maker most widely known for its Provence rosé, Chateau d’Esclans, comes The Palm. Slightly cheaper in price than the d’Esclans, it doesn’t quite have the smoothness of its more famous sibling. However, made from Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan grapes, there’s an aromatic zing to it that has a tad more minerality than its ‘big sister’ wine.
Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc
This release from the Edmond de Rothschild Heritage (that’s the group name for Baron Benjamin de Rothschild’s wine-making projects around the world) is one of the finest single estate Marlborough sauvignon blancs we’ve tried in recent years. Like all the finest Kiwi Sav Blancs, this is a breath of breezy, clean mountain air with the usual teasing back notes of lemon, grapefruit and dry hay. The name ‘Rimapere’ means five arrows in Maori. The most pleasant thing about a wine of this quality is that none of those arrows punctures a hole in the wallet. An outstanding quality wine for the ‘change from the twenty pound note’ range.
