Uncorked: Light choices for cool picnics

Find a shady park, shoo the ants and spread your picnic lunch — from fried chicken to fruit salad — on a checkered tablecloth. Pop open the cooler and pluck a bottle of cool, crisp heaven.

But what wine should you choose? Not a hearty red zinfandel, which can reach 14 or even 15 percent alcohol. It'll make you sweat. Alcohol gives wines weight, smoothness, opulence. And heat.

A good summer wine is typically low-alcohol. If you check labels, you'll see there are lots of wines that are 12.5 percent, 11 percent, even 9 percent — for a variety of reasons.

Portugal's cool, crisp vinho verde is made of grapes (alvarinho, loureiro, trajadura, pederna) that are naturally low in sugar. So even when fully ripe, they produce only about 11 percent alcohol. They're light, crisp and spritzy — just the thing at a picnic.

Some rieslings are made slightly sweet by stopping fermentation before all the fruit sugar is converted to alcohol. They can be as low as 9 percent.

Champagnes and other sparkling wines, like Spanish cavas, are usually made of grapes picked early, before they develop maximum sugar. So even the most opulent bubbly is often 12 percent, even 11 percent, alcohol. It's to keep the fruit acids that make them crisp.

So chill. Here are some wines that'll help you do it.

Highly recommended

2005 Laboure-Roi Pouilly-Fuisse, Vallon d'Or, 12.5 percent alcohol: crisp, lemony chardonnay; $18.

2005 Mommessin Beaujolais-Villages (gamay), 12.5 percent: tart strawberries; very fruity; $11.

Nonvintage Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne, Reims, 12 percent: citrus, yeast and orange flavors; lots of tiny bubbles; $56.

Recommended

2006 Bolla Chianti DOCG, Italy, 12.5 percent: light and fruity, with tart cherry flavors; $8.

2005 Bourati Moschofilero, Greece, 11.5 percent: crisp and light white wine with flavors of lemons and green melons; $14.

2006 Fumaio Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay, Banfi, 12.5 percent: light and crisp; ripe peach flavors; $12.

2006 Bolla Riesling, Provincie di Pavia, 12 percent: slightly sweet; green apple flavors; $9.

2007 Cavit Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, 12 percent: crisp and light, with vanilla and lime flavors; $10.

Nonvintage Famega Vinho Verde, Portugal, 9.5 percent: light and crisp, even spritzy, with tart white grapefruit flavors; $9.

2007 Abadia de San Campo Albarino, Spain, 12.5 percent: crisp, light, lemony; $17.

2006 Ecco Domani Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio, delle Venezie, 12.5 percent: light, tart, minerally; $12.

2007 Savion Rose d'Anjou, Loire Valley, France, 11 percent: tart cranberry flavors; $13.

2007 Schmitt Sohne Riesling Qualitatswein, Mosel Saar Ruwer, 9 percent: light-bodied; slightly off-dry apple flavors, $9.

Nonvintage Codorniu Cava, San Sadurni d'Anoia, 11.5 percent: green apple flavors, sturdy bubbles, dry; $9.

Nonvintage Santa Margherita Brut Prosecco, 11 percent: dry, minerally, light-bodied, frothy; $21.