Sancho

I wonder if anyone here could recommend a red Spanish wine that Spanish people drink chilled ? It's extremely hot here in the UK at the moment, and I don't usually enjoy white wine.

spainrico

They drink all and any red wine chilled. Be brave! It works...........

Boseley

Here (El Hierro) they drink Vino de Verano, a large cold red wine shandy.

Fred James

Sancho

Thanks very much everyone. I'll try both of those ideas. This heat day after day is getting intolerable.

bob_bob

Most cheap reds in the UK are Spanish so just pick some up in Tesco and try it.

bobd22

In the UK for decent Spanish red wine you should visit Aldi and search out their Toro Loco wines. They do red and white there is standard and Reserva at good price and a very decent red wine whichever one you buy or how you choose to drink it.

Retired in Euskadi

I cannot understand why red wine is often served chilled here. Each to his own no doubt, but to me it takes away the flavour. White, yes, but red, never.

rachelk

Yes but it only needs to be in your glass 5 minutes before it comes up to a decent temperature.
It's not supposed to be drunk chilled, but neither is it supposed to be drunk at 35º or more.

Fred James

Loafing Along

In the North of Spain the kids mix it with Coca-Cola Kalimotxo.....Alternatively just try sangria.

missile

or water <LOL>

Sancho

Thanks very much again for all the thoughts.

There isn't an Aldi near here but I've sent the char's husband, a kitchen and bathroom fitter, to get me a couple of bottles of Toro Loco. Will report back.

(I've been to Toro - a little place near Leon and not far from the Portuguese border with a mirador over the Duero and a painted cathedral, which provided all the wine (red) for Columbus's first expedition. There's a Spanish-American looking baroque town hall with a cracked bell on top and a blazing hot plaza where, when I was there, there were lots of wine shops. I wish I'd asked about this there, but I had a glass of wine and I have a feeling it came un-chilled. If it had been chilled I think I'd have remembered.

Anyway, I see Toro Loco doesn't come from Toro. It comes from between Barcelona and Gibraltar. Presumably the name just means 'mad bull' or something.

Thanks for the remarks about temperature. I have a wine thermometer gadget. It's a sort of collar that goes round the bottle and LED lights come on to show the temperature. Made in China, I think, and hasn't been a howling success so far, but I might have been using it wrongly. I prefer red wine because white wine seems to quickly get sickly, even if it started off OK. I wonder if that's got something to do with it heating up, or maybe I'm just using the wrong sort of white wine.

Also in my experience red wine's usually drinkable the day after. White wine isn't.

Sangria's definitely a possibility. Why did I think of it for myself ? I'd be grateful for any knowledgable suggestions as to how it should be made.

(There are recipes on the internet, but they mostly seem to be for people in America and I don't think trust them.)

I'd never heard of Vino/Tinto de Verano, but it sounds possibly better - less sweet for one thing. So thanks for that too.

Wine with coca-cola isn't just for kids. Workmen in Rome drink it too. White wine with coca-cola, that is. I haven't drunk it but it looks as revolting as it sounds. In North Yorkshire that sort of thing'd get you labelled as a southern ponce.

The Senegalese national drink is essence - cheap (Algerian ?) red wine mixed 50/50 with local lager, usually warm. That's vile too, but it gets you drunk, which is all it's meant to do. In French essence means 'petrol'.

And thanks for the motor-cycle video. I once did 190 kph on the back of a Kawasaki 900 on the old 'motorway' between Yoff airport and Dakar. At least, I was told it was 190, but my eyes were tightly shut in fear so I didn't see the speedometer. Not that I wanted to. I can still hear the high-pitched, rising whine of the engine and feel the terror.

VFR

In Asda bottom shelf........
A number of Spanish reds @ under £4.00, mix half & half with asda diet lemonade (0% everything) and you then have Tinto con Gaseosa that is drunk everywhere in Spain (ish)

rachelk

What a great post!

As for the sangira / tinto de verano - the easiest way I find, rather than messing with fruit and spices but to get something a bit more than just red wine and lemonade, is to mix it with tonic water, or diet tonic if you want. Enjoy.