During summer’s hottest months, it’s tempting to stick to whites and rosés. Even the most insipid examples can be chilled to within a few degrees of freezing and provide simple icy refreshment.

But many reds are fated to be left slumbering in the cellar, waiting for cool temperatures to return, and rightfully so. The mere idea of trying to keep a bottle of 1982 Grand-Puy-Lacoste from getting too warm at a picnic or from having its sediment stirred up while bringing it to the beach is daunting. The thought of a big, beefy, alcoholic red at the end of a long day becomes unappealing when the mercury is over 80°F or so and the humidity is hanging thick in the air.

Still, there’s no need to let the hot, humid weather completely dampen your enthusiasm for red wines. For inveterate–or even just occasional–red-wine drinkers, here are a few suggestions that will allow you to scratch that itch while keeping your cool.

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This Monday, June 6th, marks the launch of the Sud de France Festival in New York. The month-long festival, now in its third year, encourages attendees to experience the spirit of the Mediterranean lifestyle, complete with fine wine, foods and entertainment from the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It allows people the opportunity to learn more about the culture and specialties of the region through a convivial approach of tastings and experimentation, all at exciting venues with welcoming ambiance and alongside local winemakers and artists.

For a region with so much to offer, the concept behind the annual festival couldn’t be more appropriate.

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We can’t live on liquor alone, but we can have the best of both worlds by pairing it with food—and the most glorious pairing? Spirits and cheese, of course. It can make for some surprising and mind blowing combinations.

The goal when pairing spirits and cheese isn’t to be stringent about complementary flavors. Rather, take a chance by pairing less likely options. For example, the tart, tangy and mild character of a good American goat cheese perfectly pairs with an unaged American whiskey. The alcohol content of a whiskey slices through the rich, dry texture of the goat cheese, enhancing its citrus favors. Similarly, a powerful, smoky and peaty single malt from Islay may give the impression that it would dominate in flavor, yet when paired with a sweet-style Blue cheese, it leaves a savory finish that seems to last for hours. A paprika washed rind cheese from Spain can easily highlight some of the softer notes of a briny, salty, single malt from the Islands of Scotland.

When traveling the dessert route, match up a brittle, crystallized chunk of aged Gouda with rich Bourbon. The butterscotch, caramel and other sweet notes of the Bourbon will infuse your palate with the flavors of a delicious bread pudding.

While pairing spirits with cheese may appear a daunting task, you’ll never learn unless you practise. Invite friends over, put out a cheese plate and open some bottles of spirits. If the pairings really don’t work, try again. You can never have enough spirits or cheese.

The great chocolate and wine debate – love it or hate it – rages every time a chocolate holiday arrives (which should rightfully be every holiday and then some.)

Luckily, German chocolatier Eberhardt Schell thinks he has the answer – even with milk chocolate.  Schell conducted extensive pairings during the annual Prowein wine trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany. Schell’s chocolates are from Gundelsheim, Germany but any reasonably good chocolate will work.

After extensive tasting, I can report that Riesling with Umami Papua milk chocolate and Lemberger (Blaufränkisch) with 70 percent cocoa dark chocolate from Tonga are great successes. Vintage Port with 70 percent chocolate from São Tomé is a more moderate partnership. I am sorry to report that Cabernet Sauvignon and chocolate is still a pairing best avoided.

Chocolate lovers also gravitated to the Symington Family Estates, the Portugal’s largest Port producers. The Symingtons are test marketing Nirvana, a dry, dark style of Reserve Port specially blended by Symington winemaker Charles Symington to go with 70 percent dark chocolate. The arduous research for this new Port, expected to be launched later this year under the Dow’s brand, was undertaken by Guido Francone, Belgium’s top sommelier, and that country’s University of Leuven.

Producers around the world are listening to consumers who like to eat and drink. There were scores of food and wine pairings around the show. The Alsace wine trade organization presented a mouth-watering combination of Crémant d’Alsace and finger food with “Wine and Spices”, while “East meets West” was a stimulating tasting area involving various versions of Japanese sake and European cheeses.

Outside the trade show, more than 30 restaurants, hotels and wine retailers in Düsseldorf offered tasting sessions, special menus, cooking classes and parties as part of “Prowein goes City”.

With over 3,600 exhibitors from 50 countries spread over six vast halls and over 38,000 visitors, Prowein 2011 “brings the supply and demand sides of the wine and spirits market together at an international level in a uniquely professional atmosphere,” said Hans Werner Reinhard, Deputy Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf, the show’s organizer. This annual event in Germany is now well established as a major business date on the wine trade’s calendar.

Meanwhile if you want to test chocolate and wine pairings at home, Cocoa-rich European chocolates are available in many specialty stores. And lovers of a Hershey bar need not despair. Pair it with medium dry wines such as Vouvray from the Loire in France or a California Riesling. Controversy solved? Well, perhaps just another taste to make sure.

The second (and last) full day of Hospice du Rhône led off with a seminar on Roussillon, moderated by writer Patrick Comiskey. His messianic introduction was followed by some terrific wines that were evidently new to many of the attendees–there was a healthy buzz in the room immediately afterwards, and it spilled all the way over into the beginning of lunch some 90 minutes later.

Interestingly, two of the wineries represented on the panel had roots in the nothern Rhône: Domaine Le Roc des Anges (Marjorie Gallet) and Domaine Madeloc (Pierre Gaillard and his daughter Elise). Also showing wines and describing their unique terroirs were Jean-Roger Clavet of Domaine Thunevin-Calvet and Hervé Bizeul of Domaine Clos des Fées.

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Seminar two's wines

Hospice du Rhône is dedicated to advancing the cause of wines made from the Rhône varieties, and this annual event, now in its 19th year, brings together hundreds of Rhône wine lovers at the Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, California. The event kicked off Friday night, with the Rhône n Bowl tournament, but kicked into high gear today, with two seminars, a rosé-themed lunch, four hours of afternoon tasting and an evening soirée filled with big bottles.

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The beloved grilled cheese. There’s really nothing like it. Simple and comforting, it’s amazing how satisfying this holy trifecta of bread, cheese and butter can be. The grilled cheese of my childhood was far from gourmet—Wonder bread and Kraft singles—but truth be told, it soothed my young soul. When mom placed a grilled cheese sammie in front of me, gooey American cheese oozing from two slices of crispy, buttery white bread, cut into triangles, all was right in the world.

Today, the allure of this nostalgic sandwich is sweeping the country and people are falling in love with the grilled cheese all over again. Whole restaurants are devoting their menus entirely to the glorious grilled cheese, food trucks are popping up in every major city, there’s even a highly competitive and well-attended Grilled Cheese Invitational, now in its 8th year. This isn’t the grilled cheese of your youth though. No, she’s all grown up now, with artisanal bread, high-quality cheese and gourmet toppings.

The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen in San Francisco sports a perpetual line of customers spilling out the door who cheerfully await their cheese binge. A popular choice is the Mousetrap, a hefty three-cheese stack of Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti and monterey jack on artisanal sourdough bread from a local bakery.  Order it with “The Works” and you’ll get applewood-smoked bacon, roasted tomato and house-made bread n’butter pickles too. Co-owner and Commander-in-Cheese, Heidi Gibson, was inspired to open up a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant after her many victories at the Grilled Cheese Invitational.

In Los Angeles, fellow GCI champion alum Eric Greenspan, also has sights on opening up a grilled cheese restaurant. Greenspan, chef-owner of the Foundry on Melrose, plans to open Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese right next door. You can bet that his signature haute grilled cheese will be on the menu. The Champ features creamy taleggio, slow-braised short ribs, oven-dried tomatoes and an apricot-caper pureé on raisin bread.

Food trucks represent a burgeoning food scene and many a melty grilled cheese has found a home amongst these roving food-mobiles. The Grilled Cheese Truck (Los Angeles) has a devout following with its over-the-top creative combos. Their famous Cheesy Mac and Rib is a full Southern meal in a sandwich, with sharp cheddar macaroni and cheese, BBQ pork, and caramelized onions stuffed between buttery grilled white bread.

The Grilled Cheese Grill (Portland) has two vehicles, a double-decker bus and a school bus, serving up heart-stopping concoctions like The Original Cheesus, a behemoth 1/3 pound burger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches (American cheese and pickles in one, Colby jack and grilled onions in the other).

The Milk Truck (New York), feeds hungry weekend shoppers at the Brooklyn Flea. They do classic well with their Ham and Cheese, applewood-smoked ham, Vermont aged cheddar and spicy Coleman’s mustard on rosemary Pullman bread.

The Big Cheese (D.C.) pays homage to fine cheeses, using cult favorites like Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon goat gouda and Cowgirl Creamery’s triple-cream Mt. Tam.

Inspired to make your own gourmet grilled cheese masterpiece? It doesn’t take much, just some attention to making the few ingredients involved really shine. A trip to the farmer’s market inspired my Honeycrisp Harvest Melt.  I sampled some delicious New York extra-sharp cheddar from my cheese guy and then feasted my eyes on a basket of shiny honeycrisp apples. True to their name, they are incredibly sweet, juicy and crispy. As I carried my bounty home, hints of sage and gingerbread swirled through my thoughts. I decided to experiment with an oatmeal-molasses bread recipe, combining it with elements of my favorite dark gingerbread recipe. The result was a wonderful discovery—a hearty, homey loaf of whole-wheat/oat bread sweetened with molasses and honey, and spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and allspice.

I brushed two slices of my Ginger-Molasses Bread with generous amounts of sage butter and grilled it up in my frying pan.  The scent of fried sage bits and warm spices filled the kitchen. Oozing melted cheese and delicately crispy, sweet-tart apple slices finished off the sandwich. Try pairing this meal with an Alsatian Gewürztraminer. The wine’s lush, floral, fruity perfume will bring out the honey notes of the apple while its spicy notes complement the gingerbread.  Now that’s a grilled cheese lunch, grown and sexy.

Honeycrisp Harvest Melt

Grilled cheese made with New York extra-sharp cheddar, honeycrisp apple, and sage butter on ginger-molasses bread.  Enjoy this with a velvety rich bowl of butternut squash soup and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.

Makes: 1 sandwich

Ingredients:

2-3 slices New York extra-sharp cheddar

3-4 thin slices of honeycrisp apple

2 tablespoons butter, melted (plus butter for the griddle)

1 teaspoon finely minced sage

2 slices of Ginger-Molasses Bread

Preparation:

1.      Mix together the melted butter and minced sage.  Brush on both sides of the bread.

2.      Melt a pat of butter on your griddle or frying pan over medium heat.  Place the bread in the pan and toast one side until golden brown.

3.      Flip the bread and place cheddar on top.  Cover the pan and turn down the flame to low.  Cook until the cheese melts.

4.      Remove from the pan, top with apple slices, sandwich it all together and enjoy!

Adapted from Bon Appetit (November 1994).  This gorgeous whole-wheat/oat loaf is sweetened molasses and honey, and spiced with ginger and a touch of cinnamon and allspice.  Hearty, homey, and best of all, you can hand-make it without even a mixer.

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

½ cup packed old-fashioned oats

¾ cup boiling water

1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)

2¼ teaspoons dry yeast

½ cup unsulfured molasses

¼ cup honey

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

1¼ teaspoons salt

2½ cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon melted butter mixed with 1 teaspoon honey (glaze)

1 tablespoon old-fashioned oats

Preparation:

1.      Place 1/2 cup oats in large bowl.  Pour 3/4 cup boiling water over it. Let stand 30 minutes.

2.      Pour 1 cup warm water into a glass measuring cup. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to blend. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 10 minutes.

3.      Mix molasses, honey, 2 tablespoons melted butter, grated ginger (a microplane works best), cinnamon, allspice, and salt into oat mixture in bowl.  Mix in yeast mixture.

4.      Add enough flour, 1 cup at a time, to form medium-soft dough, mixing with a large spoon/your hands until well blended, about 3 minutes.

5.      Turn out dough onto floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if dough is too sticky, about 5 minutes. Form dough into ball.

6.      Butter large bowl; add dough, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

7.      Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F.  Butter 9×5-inch loaf pan. Punch down dough; turn out into floured surface and knead 3 minutes. Form into 8-inch-long loaf. Transfer to prepared pan. Cover with plastic, then towel; let rise in warm draft-free area until dough has risen about 1/2 inch above rim of pan, about 45 minutes.

8.      Bake bread 10 minutes; reduce temperature to 350°F. Bake 25 minutes longer. Brush top of bread with glaze; sprinkle 1 tablespoon oats over. Bake until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 10 minutes longer.

9.      Transfer to rack; cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out brad onto rack; cool completely.

Note: Bread can be made 2 weeks ahead. Wrap tightly in foil and freeze.  Reheat wrapped bread in 350°F oven about 15 minutes.

Recently, I received a voice mail from an irate importer, in which he said he was “fairly disappointed” with the reviews his wines had received from me. It seems the same wines have been well reviewed in their home market, and my ratings were “out of whack with what [Critic X] has given them.” Furthermore, he demanded that we not publish the reviews. Oh, and I should call him back immediately.

So I did some homework–I looked up what I had rated the wines, and checked out what another major U.S. wine publication had written–and called him back.

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“This is an interesting wine,” said the wine steward as he poured the bruised-looking white into our glasses. “I think you’ll find it….meaty,” he said, a wobbly sales pitch at best.

Everyone at the table looked at each other with sly, faintly amused alarm. That word: interesting. When someone describes a book, a movie, a lecture as merely interesting, it usually indicates a colorless, banal experience. With wine or food, though, the word can signal something ghastly or wonderful or both; a love it or hate it experience; a discovery at least.

I was about to have it all.

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With the Jewish holiday Passover starting tonight, this past weekend was filled with questions about what wine to pick up for consumption during the traditional Seder. I’m sure I’ll get my fair share of these questions today as well, as people make their way to their local wine shops to pick up some selections before sundown. I don’t mind answering these queries; in fact, I love when people ask and I get the opportunity to geek out a bit. What I don’t like is how these questions, especially when it comes to kosher wine, are proposed.

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