Two Perfect Picnic Wines

La Crema’s small-batch wines represent the best cool-climate wine—and just so happen to pair perfectly with your next picnic lunch

For 35 years, La Crema has sought out exceptional vineyards in cool-climate regions that produce unique and complex flavours, but this year is a particularly special one, as it debuts the first Oregon wine in its history: the La Crema Willamette Pinot Noir.It’s great timing, because with picnic season on the way (our minds turn to al fresco dining as soon as those first spring rays of sunshine hit), we’re on the hunt for bottles to pair with grilled kebabs and charcuterie platters, and Pinot Noir is the perfect fit, with a balance of earth, fruit and acidity.Prefer a white? La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is picnic-friendly, too: lush and fresh, with stone fruit and floral notes, the ideal companion for roasted chicken sandwiches or fresh seafood.Both beautiful bottles are the work of winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas. As a graduate of the first class of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture program, she takes the small-bath approach seriously, hand-sorting Pinot Noir and hand-stirring lees for Chardonnay. She’s intent on letting the “nature of the fruit shine through,” and it shows—La Crema’s wines truly reflect the region. We’ll raise a glass to that this summer, and beyond picnic season, too. Grab a bottle of your own from Summit Fine Wines.