Heat wave calls for low-alcoholic drinks – 09/24/2023 – Red or White

This Sunday is the hottest day in the history of the city of São Paulo. Right at the beginning of spring… And there are still those who don’t believe in global warming! Others, like me and the Corinthians fans, even support measures to try to avoid this, but, deep down, they watch the circus burn, content with a cup in hand. As it’s hot as hell, it better be a glass of something cold.

What’s the best drink to cool off on hot days like this? An ice-cold white wine, a sparkling wine, a stupidly cold beer? I’m sorry to say, but the most recommended drink in a heat wave like the current one is water. Natural juices and iced teas can also help hydrate and maintain body temperature.

Alcohol not only increases body temperature but also dehydrates. The best thing would be to stay away from him. However, as I know well that the reader must not be willing to give up a dose of poison that would bring him some joy at this apocalyptic beginning of spring, I suggest that he choose less alcoholic drinks.

Beer would be the most natural route, but if you, like me, are not on the beer team, the solution is to look for less alcoholic wines. Have you ever heard of pét-nat? Pét-nats are sparkling wines made using an ancient method. They go through a single fermentation, which starts in the tank and ends in the bottle.

Alcoholic fermentation is the action of yeast that transforms sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Most of the sparkling wines we drink go through two fermentations. The first is done in tanks, vats or even barrels and the second can be done in a closed bottle (classic method) or in pressurized tanks (charmat method) that do not let the gas escape.

Sparkling wines are usually made from grapes harvested when they still have high acidity and have not fully developed their sugars. Therefore, the base wine, the one produced in the first fermentation, is usually not very alcoholic. So that the second fermentation can take place, winemakers add sugar to this base wine. Therefore, the final result usually has an alcohol content between 11.5% and 13% (which is already less alcoholic than red wines that can exceed 15%).

Pét-nats, however, as they do not undergo a second fermentation, need to rely on the sugar from the fruit itself to produce all the alcohol and gas. Even though the grape can be harvested a little more ripe, as it must have a lot of acidity, it is never harvested too sweet. Therefore, the alcohol content of pét-nats is usually even lower than that of other sparkling wines. Patinete, a bianca malvasia pét-nat from Faccin Vinhos, from Monte Belo do Sul, in Serra Gaúcha, for example, has 10% alcohol. It is a very dry wine, with aromas of yeast, spices and melon. It costs R$ 152.00 on the winery’s website.

I didn’t drink on a hot day. It was in May last year, there at the winery. It was quite cold, but it was great with the fireplace, salami and polenta served by the producer. Later, I took it again in São Paulo, pairing it very well with a feijoada.

Another alternative is muscatel, a type of sparkling wine that Brazil is a master at. It is made using the asti method, which also uses only one fermentation. This takes place in the pressurized tank (autoclave) and is interrupted by a thermal shock (ice cream) when the drink reaches the alcoholic strength and sugar content desired by the winemaker. The sweeter the less alcohol.

Ah, but you don’t like sweet wine… Taste is taste. Respect, but don’t tell me that sweet wine is necessarily of low quality! Sugar is often used to disguise defects and to win over less experienced palates, I agree. However, this does not mean that all sweet or semi-sweet wine is always bad. The syllogism does not close.

I also don’t love most of the muscat we find out there, although I recognize that most of them have a lot of quality. I don’t love it because I’m not fond of grapes with terpenic aromas (that thing that reminds me of lychee mixed with lily, hahaha). These are grapes from the Moscato family, Italian Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Torrontés, among others. Serra Gaúcha Moscatel is usually made from Moscato. Hence my problem with him.
With wine, however, I learned that my palate always makes an exception when faced with something special. This was the case with Vitale, a 2014 sparkling muscatel from Valparaiso Vinhos e Vinhedos, in Barão, Serra Gaúcha.

I got this sparkling wine when I went to visit them and I didn’t think I would like it. I took it to lunch, just to try it, along with other bottles of wine that I intended to drink. I ended up drinking almost all of it. He’s not a Moscato. It’s from Torrontés, the Argentine grape. But the aromas are from the same family.

With age, however, Vitale lost the excess floral. It has incredible evolved aromas of baking, some oxidation reminiscent of sherry. However, it maintains the fruitiness. Delicious. The acidity completely offsets the sugar. It was amazing with vegetable tempura. It has only 7.5% alcohol. It’s super elegant. It costs R$149.00 (but is worth more) on the winery’s website.

To lower the alcohol dosage, you can also try something even more different, something completely new, like mead and fruit wines. New for the people of the capital, right? Because, inside, everyone has known them both for a long time. But today we find a slightly different version of what was traditionally drunk in the countryside. In general, a little drier.

In the case of mead, it’s a good idea to check the alcohol content, because there are producers who make it with 13% or more. Fermented from water with honey, mead is one of humanity’s oldest drinks. Otherwise the oldest. It may or may not have pimples. It all depends on whether fermentation takes place indoors or outdoors.

Abelha Jataí Bubbly Mead, from Companhia dos Fermentados, for example, has just 10%. It costs R$ 119.00 on the company’s website, which started out producing kombuchas and today makes an incredible number of different alcoholic ferments. They have Pineapple Bubbly, a mixture of water, alcoholic fermentation of pineapple, ginger and marigold, which is sold in 269 ml cans and costs R$16.00. Blueberry Bubbly, also in cans, same price, which combines water, alcoholic fermented blueberry, blackberry and passion fruit, green tea infusion, hibiscus infusion and organic crystal sugar. Both have a dry taste and 6% alcohol. Additionally, they have ciders and also fruit wines.

Professionals and more traditional wine lovers hate the fact that fermented fruits made from fruits other than grapes are called wine. By law, in fact, these drinks are not wines. However, it is traditional, for example, to use the term jaboticaba wine in the interior of Minas. And the natureba wine people use it directly. So, I’m going to use it here and, if you say I used it, I’ll deny it.

We don’t find this kind of thing in supermarkets. Productions are small. That’s why I’m here to pave the way for the stones. In Paraisópolis, in the south of Minas, for example, Sítio Graúna produces wines and pét-nats from various organic fruits from the farm itself, such as strawberries, blackberries and physalis.
The ones I tried were fresh and very tasty. Always dry, but with aromas reminiscent of fruit (this is not a rule, sometimes fruit wine has more of a fermentation aroma than of fruit). They also produce mead with fruit, which is known as melomel. Currently, they only have strawberry, blackberry and red fruit wines in stock, which cost R$55.00 on the website or via WhatsApp +35 9209-9079. The next harvest should be in December.

And all of this can also be co-fermented with grapes, as is the case with Frambô, a bubbly mead with raspberry and chardonnay, with 10% alcohol, from Montaneus Vinhos Artesanais, in Farroupilha, in Serra Gaúcha. I haven’t tried it yet, but this isn’t the first co-fermentation experience at the winery, which has labels in popular restaurants like Mani and Dom, in São Paulo. In the middle of the pandemic, they launched two very interesting labels, one with malvasia candia and kiwi (Campos Neutrais) and a kiwi and persimmon pét-nat (Cawi). To try Frambô, you can go to Farropilha, at Montaneus Bar and Kitchen, where you will also find some rare examples of very limited production fruit wines and several other natural wines from them and other producers. You can also buy Frambô on the winery’s Instagram (R$ 95.00).

I know, there won’t be time for you to go out now to buy these wines and similar ones. However, you can buy some low-alcohol labels, because there will be no shortage of hot days for you to drink them. For this hot Sunday, I suggest you take a regular sparkling wine, it doesn’t have to be expensive, and mix it with a fruit juice. Orange, peach or red fruits look great. It’s an easy and delicious drink to make. You can even add an ice cube.

However, don’t forget, for every glass of alcoholic beverage, drink another glass of water. So I think it will survive the heat wave.