11 Chillable Red Wines For Late Summer Sipping

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that you should only drink white and rosé wines. There are plenty of chillable red wines that are every bit as refreshing, and that have the additional benefit of opening up a whole new world of food-pairing possibilities.

The trick when shopping for chillable red wines is to focus on bottles that are a bit higher in acidity and lower in tannin. Brighter and more mouthwatering reds will have their freshness amplified by a chill, and lower-tannin ones will avoid becoming astringent and almost woody when cooled down too much. Perhaps the most famous chillable dry red is Beaujolais, specifically ones labeled either Beaujolais Nouveau (famously released on the third Thursday of the year to great fanfare and ubiquitous posters all over wine shops and French-focused restaurants proclaiming that Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivée!) or simply Beaujolais. As for the latter, that means that the grapes for the wine were sourced from throughout the Beaujolais region — south of Burgundy and north of the Rhône Valley — as opposed to the more geographically specific Beaujolais-Villages or Beaujolais Cru bottlings.  Neither of these wines should be chilled below cellar temperature, since they’re more structured than the other two.

There’s also a fascinating world of chillable sparkling reds to consider. Lambrusco is the classic example; Cleto Chiarli is one of the most widely available and reliable on the American market. For something sweeter, Brachetto d’Acqui is the way to go — it’s Piedmont’s ripe, floral sparkler that sings particularly well with cheesecake and Thanksgiving dinner.

For still reds, there are more options than you may think, and the eleven below are a great addition to any warm-weather table. They’re also terrific year round.