Picnic Wines

The British love a picnic – it conjures up lazy days under the hot sweet sun, but did you realise the French inv ented them? The origin of the word picnic is French (piquenique) and signifies an outing with food – similar to the word’s meaning in English. At these piqueniques, the people would all bring food to the occasion, similar to what we call potlucks today.

The first usage of the word was traced to a 16th century French text, describing a group of people dining in a restaurant who brought their own wine. The word picnic is based on the verb piquer which means ‘pick’ or ‘peck’ with the rhyming nique meaning “thing of little importance”. The outdoor concept of a picnic did not originate until the 19th century.

Carrying on in the tradition of bringing wines to your picnic – what is the perfect picnic wine? Well, they can’t be prima donnas, because they are going to be bounced around in the trunks of cars, plopped into coolers and baked by  the sun.

They will be served in paper or plastic cups, (but they taste much better from glass ones!) and they will have to compete with all the scents of summer — flowers and suntan lotion, salt water and charcoal lighter. So they can’t be fragile or flighty. Yet they must somehow be charming and accessible. And they’d better be good with hot dogs!

I love red wine at picnics: the warmth of the blue skies beat down on the win e and releases its wonderful perfume. Marquis de Perissac is a super wine. It doesn’t break the bank at £5.75 and comes from the famous Haut Medoc. It’ll seduce you with its soft fruit flavours and you’ll smell those cherry and blackberry aromas before you sip it.

The white Prince de Prieur is a table wine but has the quality associated with more expensive wines. It’s a bargain at £2.98 and is refreshingly thirst-quenching. It has a crisp, tangy apple taste with a hint of oak. At this price you can indulge t hat yearning for a second bottle!

For a mouth-watering Rosé try Roque Mauriac Rosé from Entre-Deux-Mers at £5.49. This is a lovely wine – it’s, crisp, slightly dry and smooth with a juicy bouquet full of fruit.

They are all available through http://www.bordeaux-undiscovered.co.uk/ in the Wine Shop.

Keep the whites and the rosés chilled – chilling perks up simple fruit flavours, adds zip to sweet or flabby wines, protects wines left sitting in the hot sun, and answers the call of a summer-size thirst.

OK, so we’ve chosen the perfect picnic wines – where is the perfect place to picnic? In a vineyard of course! English Wine Week is coming up soon – it’s held between 26.05.07 – 03.06.07. Vineyards are open to the public and you can check out which vineyard is near you at http://www.englishwineweek.co.uk/.

Keep the whites and the rosés chilled – chilling perks up simple fruit flavours, adds zip to sweet or flabby wines, protects wines left sitting in the hot sun, and answers the call of a summer-size thirst.

OK, so we’ve chosen the perfect picnic wines – where is the perfect place to picnic? In a vineyard of course! English Wine Week is coming up soon – it’s held between 26.05.07 – 03.06.07. Vineyards are open to the public and you can check out which vineyard is near you at http://www.englishwineweek.co.uk/.

If you want to be ultra organised I have found some handy picnic gadgets which avoid those inevitable spillages.

Steady Sticks Bottle and Wine Glass Holders take care of your drinks for you. They are made of shiny stainless steel, and are easily pushed into the ground. They are available from http://www.gadgetpages.com/ at £10.99

 

Gadget Pages also do a Picnic Wine Table that you easily can fit inside your picnic basket. It is assembled in 30 seconds or so.

http://www.winebase.co.uk/ has a range of picnic items designed to make life easier. The metrocane wine ‘n dine allows you to carry food and wine easily with one hand.

The plates are  crafted of clear acrylic with co-moulded rims of translucent colours. Goblets are moulded of high-clarity polycarbonate with colourful stems that match the plate colours – so you can identify your own set by colour.

 

The Wine Bar has a Velvet Pocket Self Pulling Corkscrew, Foil Cutter, and wine bottle sealer. It’s more that a  wine rack.

It’s a centre for serving wine select a wine from the rack and the tools to open it are at your fingertips. So is the sealer you need to preserve an opened bottle of wine for later. The carry handles makes it easy to move even with wine bottles in it.

Have fun!

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