The dog days of summer are over, and as the blistering heat starts to calm down, the opportunities for entrepreneurs to spend more time outside are abundant. One of the best ways to enjoy time outdoors with friends and family after a long work day is a picnic. Everyone brings food they want to share with others and the intimate setting allows for meaningful conversation and catching up with the people you love. It is easy to figure out what food dish to bring to a picnic, but it is difficult to be the person assigned to bring wine. With so many varieties, blends, acidities, origins, and notes, it is hard to pick out the perfect wine that will likely go with every dish brought to the picnic.
Use the following list of high-quality and delectable wines to help you narrow down your options. Whether you are looking for red or white, dry or sweet, international or domestic, you are sure to find a brand that will fit your desire perfectly. Check ’em out!
Belle Glos Wine
Belle Glos is easily identifiable by its signature wax-dipped bottle and elegant script label, making it the perfect wine to celebrate dad this Father’s Day. Fifth-generation Napa Valley winemaker Joe Wagner learned his way around a vineyard long before he was able to drink wine. Inspired by his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner, Joe created Belle Glos with a focus on vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from California’s best coastal regions. Each Vineyard Designate is crafted to distill the purest essence of the locale into elegant expressions of California Pinot Noir. The Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir is deep ruby red in color with scarlet highlights, and opens with bountiful aromas of red fruits, laced with clove, cedar, and holiday baking spices. Bold and complex flavors of crushed ripe cherry, cranberry and blueberry pie linger on the palate through the warm and structured finish. Find it on the Belle Glos website.
Belle Glos Glasir Holt Chardonnay
The 2020 Belle Glos Glasir Holt Chardonnay is a beautiful golden hue with aromas of pie crust, lightly toasted marshmallow, banana cream pie, and hints of granny smith apple; with large, luscious notes of melon, bright apple, and hints of buttery brioche on the palate. Find it on the Belle Glos website.
Böen California Pinot Noir
Böen draws its profile from the varied coastal winegrowing areas that are among California’s most sought-after cool-climate appellations, each offering optimal growing conditions for this temperamental and early ripening varietal. Find aromas of ripe Bing cherry, cocoa and marionberry with a rich and balanced palate with bright acidity that leads into a long, smooth finish.Böen Wines is also partnering with No Kid Hungry, a national campaign working to end childhood hunger in America. Through the “Enjoy a Bottle, Help Give Meals” initiative, Böen and No Kid Hungry will help provide meals to kids in need from May 28, 2021 to December 31, 2022. This initiative applies to all Böen varieties available in stores or online including: Böen California Pinot Noir, Böen Chardonnay, Böen Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Böen Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir and Böen Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir. Find them on the Böen website.
Napa Valley Quilt Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
The complex and bold assemblage of dark currant, blackberry, marionberry, and toasted hazelnut balance with hints of cardamom and dry dark chocolate. Pair this wine with a fattier steak like ribeye or sirloin cooked medium-rare to soften the tannins, highlight its fruity flavors, and balance out the salty fat. Find it on the Napa Valley Quilt website.
Luretta Gutturnio
This is the wine with the strongest demeanor in the bunch. It is intense and bold, mysterious and irreverent. The history of this wine goes back to the time of the Roman Empire (circa 2000 BC) and its particular name derives from the latin gutturnium, a characteristic wine jug.
A blend of Barbera and Croatina (local name is Bonarda), it is the landmark wine of Italy’s little area of Colli Piacentini in Emilia Romagna. Luretta’s Gutturnio showcases scents of blackberries, mint, and cardamom. Juicy yet robust, this is a steely mineral red in the manner of some Piedmont wines. Find it on the Luretta website.
Sicilia DOC Filari
Packaged in its distinct curvy bottle, Filari Nero d’Avola hails from the small sustainable winery Case Alte in Sicily. This organic ruby red wine made from Nero d’Avola grapes has fruity notes of blackberries, cherries and raspberries. Well balanced acidity and fine silky tannins. Find it on the Case Alte website.
Luretta Puck
A blend of Cabernet and a local Barbera, Luretta Puck represents the modern soul of the wine world from Emilia Romagna -the Italian region where the popular -and sometimes outdated- Lambrusco hails from. It is a genuine wine with vibrant hints of violets and red fruits, to drink in company around grills, picnics, pasta dishes and tasty fish dishes. Find it on the Luretta website.
Etna Doc Bianco Enrico IV Contrada Santo Spirito 2018
Made by Carricante, the signature grape from Mt. Etna, this volcanic wine brings to the fore elegance and character, expressing the best of the blessed soil on the slopes of Europe’s tallest active volcano. A straw yellow colored wine, with spicy aromas of grapefruit, mint and tropical fruit, this wine displays a characteristic with great sapiness. Find it on the Cantine Valenti website.
Grillo Vento di Mare
Grillo Vento di Mare is a straw wine colored with olive green hues. This elegant Grillo displays a complex mix of tropical fruits and Mediterranean citrus. The palate is fresh with naturally crispy acidity combined with hints of yellow melon and tropical fruit (12.5% abv.) Find it on the Cantene Ermes website.
Nero d’Avola Riserva Epicentro
The grapes of Nero d’Avola Riserva Epicentro come from a rescued 50 years old vineyard, one of the oldest in that territory.
For this reason the wine embodies the origin and, at the same time, a new beginning; a rebirth of the territory through the fierce power of agriculture. On the nose the ripe fruit emerges evident, accompanied by hints of sweet spices. The sip is fresh, well balanced, rich and long, with delicate tannins. (14% abv.) Find it on the Cantene Ermes website.
Vecchio Florio
Vecchio Florio will definitely turn every prejudice about Marsala wine into pure love and fondness. This wine is a mix of Grillo and Catarratto grapes, aged in oak barrels for 30 months, under the centuries-old vaults of the magnificent Florio distilleries in Sicily. Although it is defined as off-dry, Vecchio Florio is instead quite dry and very versatile. Dried apple, raisins, figs, dates and a bit of almond on the nose and dried fruit notes, along with a slight touch of bitterness and a bit of salinity make it a true summer wine. (15% abv.) Find it on the Duca store website.
Cantine Ermes Quattro Quarti
Quattro Quarti, Nero d’Avola Appassimento is a 100% Sicilian, juicy Nero d’Avola from Cantine Ermes. This wine, displaying drunken-cherry taste, plum and hints of cocoa, goes through a natural process of dehydration (appassimento is the Italian word for drying), that develops and boosts the concentration of fruity aromas. Find it on the Cantine Ermes website.
Case d’Alto, Taurasi Riserva
Case d’Alto is a small winery in Avellino, a city near Naples, that produces typical Irpinia wines. Among these, there is an excellent Taurasi Riserva, a wine that is made to feel an emotional connection with. Leather, prune and exotic spice aromas lead the nose. The palate has a firm structure, offering dried Marasca cherry, bitter cocoa, star anise, and hints of oak. Find it on the Case d’Alto website.
