How the hot summer can give your wine an extra kick

 

Summer is perhaps the best time of year to enjoy a glass of wine, especially when you feel like kicking back on your patio and soaking up the sun. However, if there’s a heatwave, you might wonder whether it can be too much of a good thing. In extreme heat, you might think that vineyards would suffer, but that’s not the case at all!

When temperatures reach around 100C, grapes tend to be a little bit sweeter; this has a profound effect on the alcohol content of wine. Instead of being 14%, a wine made with grapes grown in heatwave conditions would have around 18% alcohol content, which will give it more of a kick – perfect for a long weekend!

Wine and dine in style

While great on its own, you’ll need a few things to accompany any little collection you might have prepared for a big dinner party or to see you through until the end of August. Here are five great things you should get to make the most of your wine:

Turning the screw

Firstly, you’ll need something to open your wine. This handlebar corkscrew and bottle opener would be ideal, as it’s durable and versatile. It’s also going to be handy to take with you to dinner parties, just in case your host has forgot to get one!

Wine on hold

To impress your guests, this chain wine holder looks like it’s performing some kind of magic trick! In actual fact, it’s just a heavy metal chain which suspends it a few inches in the air. If you think that’s impressive, wait until you see this rope, which does pretty much the same thing!

Tooled up

Now and again, you might come across a bottle with a corkscrew that’s so hard to remove than you just give up on it. Fortunately, this lithium ion screwdriver would make those bottles far easier to open, saving you from the disappointment of not being able to enjoy a glass or two.

Breathing out

Sometimes, a good wine needs to be able to breathe, which often means that an aerator is necessary. This grape-shaped aerator is perfect for anyone who wants their wine to taste cleaner and fresher, ideal when it’s hotter than usual outside!

Why knot?

If you need somewhere to hold your bottles, but want something fancier than a traditional wooden rack, this knot wine rack hold six normal bottles and has an extra space for a large bottle of champagne bottle. It will look at home in a modern kitchen, nestled in a corner where you can reach out and grab a bottle if you’re in the mood.

 

 

*This is a partnered post.