@ugust Wine Club: Hot wines that can handle the heat

Making wine is like gourmet cooking. We start with the finest ingredients, grapes farmed by growers who put as much attention into their vines as I do into the wines.

– Robert Rex, Winemaker, @Arroba Winery

Since 1972, Robert Rex has been making wines, most famously at his own Deerfield Ranch winery, where he touts the virtues of wine blending to create the perfect wine. This seems utterly appropriate when one learns he is also a masterchef who can wax on about a stock made from 100 percent red wine, a whole lot of vegetables and lovingly roasted beef bones. Thankfully, his artistry, creativity and considered opinion are behind the relatively new wine label @Arroba, which promises Robert Rex quality wines @ a more affordable price. Continuing a traditional French winemaking style, Rex has helped to craft impeccable wines for @Arroba, including a chardonnay and cabernet that wine critics quickly note taste considerably above their price range.

The trendy, social-media centric tone to @Arroba wines, with ads that mimic iPhones and Twitter-esque marketing language, indicate these are iconic wines for today, even when temps are soaring. So, @Arroba puts the “inspiration” in the Hinsdale Inspired August Wine Club: a brilliant Chardonnay made for sipping on your terrace or screened-in porch and a Cabernet Sauvignon richly perfected to pair with your favorite barbecue fare.

@Arroba 2009 Santa Maria Chardonnay

Here is a Chardonnay whose oakiness doesn’t weigh one down in the summer heat. Demonstrating a fine balance of oak aging and buttery goodness, the @Arroba Chardonnay is refreshing, bringing the cool Pacific breezes of the central California coast seemingly right to your wine glass. The golden color and green hues introduce a nose of young harvest fruits and a bit of autumn spice. Swirl it in your glass, and you will be rewarded by the way this young wine opens up and provides lush fruit flavor and a perfect balance of acidity. Perfect for taking on a picnic with its screwtop seal, this wine demonstrates impressive craftsmanship that comes from 100% barrel fermentation and 11 months of aging in artisan coopered French oak.

@Arroba 2007 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon

Get out your best steaks for this deep purple Cab that is tempered with 8% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, making for a rich, velvety, berry-luscious wine. Aged in French and American Oak barrels for almost three years, this fruit-forward wine is full bodied with flavors of cherries and blackberries.  Again, Rex craftsmanship with a whole-berry fermentation process allows the wine to retain an opulent fruit flavor with hints of violets and cedar on the nose. Soft tannins and low acidity give the wine balanced structure, making this wine stand out with your favorite grilled foods.