The longest day of the year must surely be a good time to talk about rosé. In recent years it has become much more popular, but I remember when I first started working in the wine trade it was very much frowned upon to like pink drinks. By that point I had already spent a fair amount of time living in France, and so had identified (in a very studenty way) that while cheap white and cheap red were horrifically acidic and caused a massive hangover after about one glass, rosé was generally a safe bet.

As with all other wines, the type of rosé you'll like is always going to be down to personal taste - some people adore the sweeter blush wines found in California, while others won't enteratain anything sweeter than a very dry Sancerre rosé. What's great is that there is this huge range of choice within the world of rosé, and so there is always going to be one for every taste.

So, which rosé is right for you? Well, think about the sort of white you like. If you usually drink a very light delicate white, you probably won't want a dark rosé, like a Spanish Garnacha rosado, however, if you're more of a red drinker, an Alsace Pinot Noir (officially a red wine, but can very much be treated like a rosé) might tickle your fancy more. Whatever you decide, let's hope the sun comes out and we get to celebrate many a rosé day this summer...

With the weather once again turning cool and wet, many will want to veer away from the light whites and roses that they might reach for on hotter days. But which reds really work on those summer days when the sun unexpectedly puts in an appearance? I'd suggest light Italian reds - a Bardolino or a Barbera, either of which is wonderfully fruity, but neither of which has any harsh tannins. Both can be great slightly chilled, so are a great choice even if the sun does its stuff.

Alternatively, the Gamay grape is a safe bet for the English summer. A generic Beaujolais can be quite acidic and a bit like hard work, but a well made wine from one of the Beaujolais villages (I particularly like Brouilly) has enough body to go brilliantly with barbecued foods, but is light enough to be great on its own.

Let's hope the weather gives us a chance to talk about rose soon, but in the mean time, reds all the way...

As the temperature outside becomes more autumnal, people start artificially heating their homes and the subject of what temperature wine should be served at comes up again. Time after time I am told I have my red wines too cold, especially when I do tastings in the farm shop. Red wine should be served at 'room temperature'. Nowadays people heat their houses to anything from 19° - 25°C, and so understand room temperature to mean that, when actually that is too warm.

Ideally a red wine should be served at about 18°C - room temperature in Victorian times when the phrase was coined. And a white wine shouldn't be served straight from the fridge, as this is far too cold. It should be served around 10°C.

With all the wines I sell, I intentionally taste them at the 'wrong' temperature, to check the wines stand up to this test. I make sure my whites still taste good at room temperature, and that my reds are ok cooler than might be deemed correct in UK terms.

And on that note, UK terms for the correct temperature for red wines are very different to southern European terms. In France, Spain and Italy it is totally normal to chill a red wine and to serve it from the fridge. Wine snobs in the UK seem to get terribly upset about this, and yet who are we Brits to comment when we produce so few red wines?

Well, we're getting there with moving premises. The hold up at the moment is the broadband, although I hadn't expected it to happen quickly so it's not a frustration, merely a stalling point. It should be installed next Friday, so from then we'll be up and running. It seems amazing to think that this time last year The Perfect Wine didn't exist, and now we're gearing up for our first Christmas. In our new premises!

The move has brought with it a chance to review our systems and generally get our back office properly in order - working from home and out of a lock up can make basic organisation a little tricky. So, while customers shouldn't see any difference, we will hopefully have a more slick operation going on behind the scenes.

And even if that doesn't happen, we'll be in beautiful surroundings and will have the computer near the stock. This is MAJOR progress!!!

It seems the weather has turned. We seem to be getting a few last bits of sun, but the temperature has definitely dropped. So it's about time to start thinking about wines for cooler evenings.

A lot of people turn to red wine as soon as the mercury falls, and I can completely understand this, but why not eek out the white and rosé fun as well? Rather than glugging on the summery Pinot Grigios, why not look into some slightly heavier wines? And instead of the really pale pink rosés that can't be beaten in the summer, how about a foray into the heavier Cabernet Sauvignon or Garnacha rosés?

This is also the moment to think about the temperature at which you serve your wine. People often serve their white/rosé wines straight from the fridge. This can be a good idea for really cheap/nasty wine where you don't actually wish to taste the flavour, but actually, to serve a decent white or rosé at about 10° gives you just so much more idea of what's going on. A good white or rosé can be served at room temperature without causing any weird facial contorsions!

Speaking of room temperature, for red wines this is an area of much misunderstanding. Red wines are often said to be best served at room temperature. This is all well and good, but what do we mean by this? The average house is now centrally heated, and so is really quite warm - maybe 21 or 22°. This is not the temperature referred to by the phrase 'room temperature'. This phrase was coined back in Victorian times when houses were much cooler - maybe 18°, or cooler. So, ideally your red wine should be served at Victorian room temperature, not 21st century global warming temperature.

It's also worth mentioning that in many continental countries red wine is served chilled. The average Brit gets terribly upset at the idea of drinking red wine cold, and yet it can be delicious. Certainly when pairing wines to fish, the lover of red wine can sometimes feel overlooked in the traditional British thinking of white with fish/red with red meat - try chilling your red wine and serving it with your fish dish, and just see what you think (and see what your guests make of it!)