Chillable Reds

Reds that are better cold.

Somewhere along the way we all agreed red wine should be served at "room temperature", which was fair enough in a draughty French farmhouse and makes rather less sense in a Highbury flat in August.

These are the reds we reach for when it is warm: low in tannin, high in juice, built on crunchy red fruit rather than oak and structure. Gamay from Beaujolais, Cinsault from the Languedoc, Trousseau from the Jura, Mencia from North-Western Spain, chilled Loire Cabernet Franc. Twenty minutes in the fridge door, or ten in an ice bucket, and they go from pleasant to properly refreshing.

They are brilliant with charcuterie, anything off a barbecue, a tomato salad, or nothing at all in a park.

What makes a red chillable?

• Light to medium body, so the chill does not flatten it
• Soft, low tannin, since cold makes tannin taste grippy and bitter
• Bright acidity and fresh red fruit, which the chill sharpens rather than dulls
• Little or no new oak