Summer Wine...

   With a forecast ranging from 30 to 36 degrees over the next days, I foresee a lot of sitting around--and sipping. Litres of water, sometimes with a jolt of elderflower cordial and then, once the church bell has rung six times (in the evening) an apero. Okay, the occasional glass of rosé with lunch but the problem is that wine plus heat sends you straight to bed for a three-hour nap. Oh right, that's called a siesta.
    French winemakers aren't snooty about what to drink in warm weather. The cool tipple this summer is a combination of rosé and grapefruit juice with an alcohol level of about nine or 10 percent.

   "Very Pamp'" (pamplemousse being French for grapefruit) comes in a three-litre box--and isn't that the girliest packaging?

    Or you can buy Esprit Fruité by the bottle. I've tried this brand but find it a bit too sweet.

    Then there's this...Rosé specifically designed to be drunk around the swimming pool or on the terrace. The label says so. And that little thingy on the top right that looks like a postmark reads "absolutely with ice cubes."
    You can pick all these up at our local Intermarché, lug them home and tuck them in the fridge.  Just look to the left of the produce section, and round the corner from the bed sheets.