Summer is approaching the Northern Hemisphere and soon the temperatures will soar. Living in the tropics I know a thing or two about enjoying wine with sweat on your brow. I also know the temptation to skip wines entirely, and have a nice refreshing beer.

The thing is, that a chilled wine, even a chilled red wine, can be just as refreshing as beer, but too many don't turn their minds towards the grape when the mercury rises.

Chill a decent rosé or a light red

As wine sales plummet, beer sales sky rocket. There is nothing wrong with this, unless of course you want to make money. Beer, at least most beer, costs less than wine, and you have to sell a lot of it to make up for the loss revenue. What then to do?

Before you can convince your customers that wine is refreshing, you have to convince yourself. Chill a decent rosé or a light red, and recall just how nice it can be. Sure, there are plenty of white wines that are equally refreshing, but half the trick is to make people change their habits by introducing something out of the ordinary.

A wine shop or even a wine list can highlight a group of chilled wines by billing them as refreshing. The first step is occupying that bit of mental real estate where beer or soda pop is currently entrenched. Get them thinking about it, and then offer them options. Big banners, or headlines are your allies.

This summer wine is still the beverage of choice

For wine shops this is the perfect time to promote wines with screw tops. The extra convenience really comes into play for picnics or other outdoor activities. Not only are the bottles easy to open, they are just as easy to close as you plunge that bottle back into the ice chest.

For restaurants the lighter, cooler wines are perfect accompaniments to the lighter cooler foods you are selling. Sandwiches, salads, even burgers and hot dogs, can all go from plain to gourmet with the simple addition of a glass of wine.

I normally don't advocate drinking wine too cold, since it tends to hide the taste, but in this case, the colder the better. Make sure you have plenty of wine in the cooler, and ice or ice buckets to spare. Frosty cold glasses work for wine as well as they do for beer. It is the impression of cooling refreshment you are trying to impart, and every little trick helps.

From the hot sands of the beach to the broiling asphalt of the city, this summer let your customers know that wine is still the beverage of choice, and bring them a bit of refreshment and yourself a bit of profit.