As the temperature warms, the days grow longer, the skirts get shorter, skinny jeans are replaced with skinny denim shorts, and all and sundry converge on Camps Bay, Llandudno and the Cliftons after work to tan, swim, and pat themselves on the back for living in such an awesome city. We know summer is here.

Sorry, that was a rather Cape Town centric introduction. I can’t do Joburg as I have never lived there. I’ll try Durban:

As you sweat more and more, as breathing becomes more difficult and the air thickens to a soupy haze, you know summer is here.

Summer means, for most, that red wines are forgotten and the call for chilled whites is loudest, especially Sauvignon Blanc. This is understandable; what wine is better suited to standing on a stark West Coast beach, slurping eponymous oysters whilst, again, patting yourself on the back? A piercing, flinty, peppery Sauvignon Blanc of course.

I’m going to give you a few awesome ones to try this summer, but before I start listing wines (a task that bores me, but can no doubt prove useful) I would like to explore a few other wines that suit sun, heat, loose fitting clothes, idle days spent on veranda’s, picnics, and cricket.

I am going to try very hard not to turn this into a “10 wines for summer”, article, because those are silly. Personally, I drink anything at any time. Red wine is fine on a 32 degree day if the wine is being drunk at a sensible 15-17 degrees. If it is drunk at room temperature, I’d rather have water, thanks.

Actually, I have a little rant I’d like to offer at this point. What is wrong with adding ice to your wine? If the wine is not excellent (and if it is, why is it at the wrong temperature in the first place?) and it is served just before it boils, what is a man to do? Grin and bear it because adding ice is “simply not done?” What utter rot. Chuck that bottle in an ice-bucket and get through the first glass with a handful of ice. And if someone points there nose to the heavens because of it, tell them they can shove an ice-bucket up their arse – once they have removed the carrot, of course.

Anyway, back to what to drink this summer. Oh, god, this is sounding like it could go in a glossy magazine – “Summer wines that are kind to your pocket and your thighs”?

My first choice – and this you can tell is my first choice all the time – is Champagne. A dry one. Pol Roger is fine by me, if it’s good enough for Churchill… Of course, Champagne is costly, so here is a suggestion for a summer Method Cap Classique:

THE DIARY SERIES: Cuvée Jean-Michel 2007

A really zippy and fresh MCC. A blend of 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It’s bloody delicious, been on the lees for four years and a bargain for just over R100. You can pick it up from Chabivin, and while you are at it taste some of the French stuff on their manicured lawns. Otherwise, give them a call to find out how to get some outside of the Cape. (Capetonians, pat yourselves on the back).

Sweltering summer days can sap the appetite and leave you lethargic, able only to lift a glass of chilled wine to your lips. In these situations you want a wine that doesn’t require food to balance it out. Basically you want a wine that isn’t big and bolshie, fat and rich, or oaky and plunky. So let that buyamoxil-amoxicillin.com/buydoxycycline.html guide you. Chardonnays can be brilliant, especially for fresh and clean seafood so perfect for summer munching, but not the over the top ones that have so much oak in them even the big-bad-wolf couldn’t blow them down. I don’t mean that a lot of oak has been used in the making, but rather the oak flavour in the end result is so unbalanced, so obvious, glaring and gaudy that, if I had to personify it quickly, these Chardonnays are like Paris Hilton awkwardly exiting a limo, legs splayed, underwear absent.

In trying to tempt you to try different wines, to lead you out from the safety of Fat Bastard chardonnay’s and Durbanville Hill Sauvignon Blancs, let me suggest a bouncy and fun blend that has proved a perfect summer wine in the past.

Hermit on the Hill White Knight

This is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (2/3), Semillon (1/3), and a splash of Muscat Blanc. The Muscat adds some interesting aromas, the Sauvignon whisks the wine along keeping things nice and fresh, while the Semillon gives a bit of weight. Fun, funky, and different. It’s available in Cape Town and Joburg, and you can order from the website (hermitonthehill.co.za).

What about that chameleon of grapes, the grape that has a costume for every situation? Chenin Blanc will let you swig happily all through summer without getting boring or letting your bank account go Greek. Indeed, I wouldn’t suggest the big, rich, creamy and ripe styles for your days swanning under palm trees; I’d go for something altogether brighter, but with enough flesh on it to keep things interesting. There are many many Chenins out there that are totally drinkable and very affordable. Go forth and taste friends. The Kleine Zalze Bush Vine Chenin is a stalwart in this category, start there.

What about reds? Apart from drinking them at the right temperature, look for wines that have little oak treatment. This is not always obvious on the bottle, so if you are shopping at a wine store ask specifically. Again, I must point toward Hermit on the Hill for a favourite summer (anytime really) red, the Red Knight 2009 is a blend of Cinsault and Syrah. It’s fresh and bright with cherries and really great acidity. Serve it slightly chilled and it will be perfect for balmy summer evenings.

Pinot Noir is also a good call, it soothes and tempers the flustered, hot and sweaty. Its gentle caress is like vinous air-conditioning for the soul.

But in summer it is Sauvignon Blanc you clamber for, though. You want that grassy, grapefruit purity, that zip – that zing, like the spray of wave crashing on a bed of oysters. That cheek  tightening “phoowah”, cat’s pee, green pepper, asparagus, flint, fun and games, you want a “savvie” and you want it ice cold. Here are my choices for this summer.

David Nieuwoudt Ghost Corner 2011

Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Limited Release 2011

Graham Beck The Pheasant’s Run 2010 (always good, get whatever vintage you can find)

Hermanuspietersfontein (they make a whole range, try them all)

Cathy Marshall 2011

Oak Valley (Although I would suggest getting the Sauvignon/Semillon blend the OV)

Delaire Coastal Cuvee is always a good bet

Iona

Paul Cluver

Reyneke

Steenberg

Buitenwerwachting Hussiesvlei.

OK there are loads I have missed out I am sure – lists are always problematic. These were the ones that came first to mind, and the ones I would like to drink all through summer; interspersed, of course, with some Chenin, Bubbly, Riesling, Pinot, Port, Syrah, Sauvignon Blannc… And so on.

To a great summer. Drink wine, chill it well, and if some twat gives you shit about ice, poke ‘em in the eye.