6 red wines to keep you cool during a red-hot Chicago summer

CHICAGO — The dog days of summer are high season for thirst-quenching white and rosé wines — but many Chicagoans remain loyal to reds year-round.

“In Chicago, no matter what the season or the temperature, people tend to drink really bold, high-alcohol reds,” says Tia Polite, a sommelier at Indienne, a fine-dining Indian restaurant in River North.

When it comes to wine, “Chicago is such a California, particularly Napa-based, city,” echoes Cassandra Sakai, corporate director of beverage operations at Gibsons Restaurant Group, which operates 12 Chicagoland restaurants. “If a customer wants to drink a 16% (alcohol by volume) Napa cab in August with oysters, we’re going to give them what they want,”