Warm, outside and in

Does temperature affect how you taste wine?

It's getting much warmer. Finally, Toronto is getting its summer. Humid and hazy, with a touch of trash in the air, as the city begins to recover from its workers holding the city ransom going on strike. Of course, I'm not bitter and unsympathetic at all about people grovelling for extra benefits amidst the worst economic crisis in decades, when ordinary folks are losing their jobs left and f*cking right. Not bitter at all. Let's be honest - you pick garbage, what do expect......an $80K salary?

Getting way off topic. As the weather warms up, I'm finding myself drawn more and more to beers. There are many refreshing wines to drink, but when I drink wine, I'm always savouring each flavour, each texture. I drink wine far too slowly for it to be refreshing, no matter what bottle I have in front of me. Drinking beer is far more relaxed, in that I can gulp. After all, beer is only so complex.

So, what to drink? I have a lot of ales lined up for this weekend, which should be very interesting. I wonder what's going to fly out the window first - my palate or my sobriety. But getting drunk over the long weekend is nothing to be ashamed about. And of course, mojitos. Mint kind of rots if you don't continually pick it.

For tonight, I have a few bottles planned, starting with the Central Otago pinot noir I'm drinking now. A little bit of age on it, and made in a restrained, balanced style. This is the kind of wine I'm looking for, from the New World.