Summer Wines to Drink Before Summer Ends

I’m a creature of habit when it comes to wine I drink at home; I reach for Rosé from Provence, I’ll drink Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire, Albarino from Galicia, and lately a lot of Grillo from Sicily, but I tend to stick to the things I know. But when I go out, I like to live a little and lean into lists (and somms) that take me somewhere else. For this edition of The Fab Five, I’ve gathered five of of my favorite folks in the wine game — Borgo’s Lee Campbell, King’s Annie Shi, Wallace’s Brian Guay, Fausto’s Joe Campanale, and Café Brume’s Brendan Spiro—to share their favorite wines of summer. Their lists highlight sparkling wine made in England (seriously, never thought I’d write the words wine and England in the same sentence but it’s fantastic and affordable), coastal wines from Italy, high altitude wines from the mountains of Switzerland and Canada, and off beat roses to lure you away from Provence. Cheers! Lee Campbell, James Beard Award winning Wine Director of Borgo, and a partner at Common Wealth Crush: a winery, custom-crush facility, and incubator for new producers, located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Domaine Guy Baudin, Pouilly-Fumé ‘Fumé du Milieu’ FR 2025, Sauvignon Blanc $24 gl Sancerre wins all of the popularity contests these days, but I love to champion an underdog! Pouilly-Fumé sits directly across the Loire River from Sancerre, but in recent years had fallen out of fashion. It was quite the smart wine to drink in the 80s, but ultimately became a victim of its own success when some producers started churning out generic, underwhelming bottles. The Baudin family estate dates back to 1685, and they do careful, organic work on beautiful limestone soils. This wine boasts notes of rich lemony minerals, chalk, and smoke... it’s thirst-quenching for a hot summer day, but also complex enough to pair well with roast fish, tomato salads and just about any shellfish. Giuseppe Cipolla, Terre Siciliane ‘Occhio di Sale’ IT 2024, Mostly Nero d’Avola $28 gl The era of the pale salmon-pink Provençal rosé is finally ebbing, and lots of other tasty styles of rosé have joined the party! ‘Occhio di Sale’ is a reference to the salty, mineral-rich soils of Giuseppe Cipolla’s farm near Agrigento on Sicily’s southern coast. This is a darkly colored rosé (in some vintages it actually looks like a red), and is so lip-smackingly delicious... chock full of dark berry fruit, lots of sunshine, and a touch of salt! It’s 95% Nero d’Avola with a splash of white grapes for lift and aromatics. Perfect for warm weather, but also lovely once the weather cools. Annie Shi, Sommelier and Owner of Lei, Partner at Dean’s and King “Drink English Fizz!” says Annie Shi, the owner and sommelier at some of the city’s most beloved restaurants — Lei, King and the recently opened British pub, Dean’s. To be sure, England and wine have never been put together in a sentence but that’s all changing. That’s in part buoyed by the upward tick in pubs and chip shops, but it’s also thanks to a new wave of artisanal growers in Sussex and increasingly in Wiltshire as well where the soil is the same chalky limestone as in Champagne but the climate (thanks to global warming) is now ripe for growing pinot blanc, pinot meunier, and pinot noir for bright and beautiful sparkling wines at significantly lower prices than Champagne. Annie Shi has the largest list of English sparkling wines in NYC at Dean’s with over two dozen choices. Her two faves are Hambledon Sparkling Wine by the glass ($32/$105) – “a delicious entry level English sparkling, and “any sparkling wine from Domaine Hugo” either the ‘Hugo’ Brut Nature 2021 ($175) or Domaine Hugo ‘Hugo’ Rosé 2021 ($175). Joe Campanale, Sommelier and Owner of Fausto — Brooklyn, NY, Quello — Greenwich, CT (Opening Fall 2026), and author of VINO — named one of the best wine books by t_he New York Times._ Ottaviano Lambruschi Vermentino “Il Casale” 2025 (Liguria, Italy) $88 — This comes from vineyards right near the Ligurian coast and has this great combination of lively fruit with a really salty, zesty quality. It tastes like the Mediterranean to me and is exactly what I want to drink in the summer. Ciro Picariello Fiano di Avellino “906” 2024 (Campania, Italy) $76 — Ciro Picariello is one of my favorite producers of Fiano, and this wine has tons of Amalfi lemon and minerality. It’s salty and crisp without being too austere, with enough texture to make it really satisfying. Brendan Spiro, owner of Cafe Brume, an Alpine restaurant in Brooklyn Heights featuring high elevation, mountain wines you can taste by the half glass. Domaine Sérol, ‘Turbullent’ Sparkling Rosé 2023, Côte Roannaise FR This is the party wine of the Alps and Loire crossroads—bright, refreshing, and dangerously easy to drink. Perfect for guests who enjoy pét-nat, Lambrusco, or sparkling rosé but want something dry, vibrant, and food-friendly. It’s salmon-pink with lively bubbles and aromas of wild strawberry, raspberry, blood orange, and rose petals. The palate is fresh and energetic, driven by crisp acidity and juicy red fruit, finishing dry with a subtle mineral edge. Playful yet precise, with tremendous drinkability. “Turbullent” is a playful combination of turbulent and bulles (bubbles), reflecting the wine’s lively personality. Domaine Sérol is a leading biodynamic estate in the Côte Roannaise, championing the rare Gamay Saint-Romain clone indigenous to the region. The wine is produced using the Méthode Ancestrale, preserving freshness and exuberant fruit. Chandra Kurt, ‘Glou Glou’ Chasselas 2022, Geneva CH Chandra Kurt is one of Switzerland’s most respected wine writers and educators, who also produces a small collection of wines showcasing Swiss terroir. The name “Glou Glou” is French wine slang for an irresistibly drinkable wine—one that’s meant to be enjoyed casually and shared among friends. This bottling highlights Chasselas’ role as Switzerland’s quintessential table wine: subtle, mineral, and exceptionally food-friendly. This is Swiss comfort in a glass—light, mineral, and effortlessly drinkable. Chasselas isn’t about bold fruit; it’s about texture, salinity, and terroir. An ideal recommendation for guests enjoying fondue, raclette, seafood, or anyone looking for a refreshing alpine white. Vignoble La Bauge, ‘Le Blanc’ 2023, Québec CA Vignoble La Bauge is one of Québec’s pioneering wineries, located in the Eastern Townships. Originally established as a wild boar farm, the estate transitioned to viticulture in the 1980s and became a leader in cold-climate winemaking. Le Blanc showcases hybrid grape varieties developed to withstand Canada’s harsh winters while producing wines with impressive freshness and aromatic intensity. This is a true cool-climate Canadian white—bright, crisp, and incredibly food-friendly. While made from hybrid grapes unfamiliar to many guests, the wine drinks with the freshness of a dry Riesling or Alpine white, making it an easy recommendation for seafood, cheese, and lighter fare. This wine is fresh and vibrant with aromas of green apple, pear, Meyer lemon, white blossoms, and a hint of fresh herbs. The palate is crisp and energetic, driven by bright acidity and subtle orchard fruit, finishing with a clean, chalky minerality. The cool 2023 vintage highlights purity, freshness, and remarkable balance. Thanks for reading The Strong Buzz! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share Brian Guay, partner and barman at Wallace Wine Bar in Prospect Heights There are so many people who have already said this, but I love a rosato for the summer time. Every summer without fail there will always be the folks who only want to drink Provence Rose. They want something light, with just a little fruit on the palate, and they want it ice cold. There are plenty of times when I want that too, but more often than not I want something a little more robust. Given these heat waves though, when Robert (my partner at Wallace) and I look for something to drink outside we often gravitate to Italian white wines. It’s too hot to drink anything too expensive, or too rich, so we have to find something crisp and bright. Robert gravitates towards Gavi and Soave, I love Mount Etna whites, but all of them are perfect backyard wines. The wines that we’ve poured the most at Wallace this summer have almost entirely been chilled reds though. Chilled Grenache that works at 3pm and at 9pm. These are lower tannin, red fruit driven wines that are easy to drink, and are without a doubt the most popular wines we sell by the glass. And I’m here for it! Chilled reds are great date wines; they make everyone happy. I love Stefano Zoli’s Verdicchio di Matelica. He’s a practicing organic winemaker farming on a little over two hectares in Marche. I could drink this wine all day. It’s bright and crisp without feeling one note. On top of that it’s an incredible value wine for the quality; when it’s this hot, I want the wine to be affordable. And while I feel as though wine in the summer should be able to stand on its own - if I’m drinking it in the park, I can find food later - this is also great with anything salty and fried. Andrea Occhipinti’s Alea Rosa. Another Italian wine. This rosato is everything I want in a summer wine - raspberry, hibiscus, grapefruit, even a little lychee; the wine is electric. Andrea Occhipinti - not to be confused with Ariana, another Occhipinti making great wine in Italy - farms on about four hectares of volcanic soil outside of Lazio. He’s been focused on low intervention and organic winemaking for decades. This particular wine is Aleatico, a reasonably rare grape specific to the area. [ So, You Want to be a Food Writer ](https://andreastrong.substack.com/p/so-you-want-to-be-a-food-writer) Andrea Strong · Aug 4 I’ve got a question for you. Actually a few questions. Are you the person everyone comes to for restaurant advice? Do you have a meticulous color-coded spreadsheet listing all the new restaurants by neighborhood and cuisine? Are you addicted to The Times’ Food Section, Grub Street, Caper, Eater, [ Read full story ](https://andreastrong.substack.com/p/so-you-want-to-be-a-food-writer)