This is no time to be thinking Big Thoughts about wine Summer is beating down on us and the last thing anyone needs — or wants — is some complicated analysis about how the upper slope of Clos de Vougeot is always superior to the lower portion.

Wine ardor, like the conventional kind, is best reserved for cooler mo ments. Cole Porter put it best: it’s “Too Darn Hot.”

The following wines are meant to take the edge off the heat, as well as off the drinker. These wines are meant to be served cool and copi ously — and none too seriously.

HERE’S THE (REFRESHING) DEAL

ANSONICA “COSTA DELL’ARGENTARIO” 2005, FATTORIA LA PARRINA If you say “Tuscan” to most wine drinkers, the odds are overwhelming that they’ll answer ei ther “red” or “Chianti.” Fair enough. Tus cany is famed for its red wines, none more so than ancient Chianti.

Far less well known are Tuscan whites. And way down on the recognition factor is a small, new (established in 1995) appellation called Costa dell’Ar gentario. It’s the southernmost coastal area of Tuscany.

The largest producer in this newly named zone is Fattoria La Parrina. A large property, it was given its own appellation by the Italian government in 1971, a designation it still uses for it red wines.

Ansonica is an ancient white grape brought to Tuscany from Sicily (where it’s known as inzolia). La Parrina’s ver sion is especially good: a dry white wine with a green-gold color, a captivating herbal scent, and a dense texture that reminds one of fresh hay, anise, and lemons. Serve only lightly chilled, as these subtle flavors are muted if the wine is too cold.

This is a delectable, original-tasting dry white wine — and a bargain at $10.95.

SCHRAMSBERG VINEYARDS BRUT ROSÉ 2003 The word “champagne” is so pow erfully evocative that its a category unto itself, never mind that, at base, it’s just a regular wine with bubbles.

Allow me to suggest that you think of this just-released bottling from Napa Val ley’s Schramsb erg Vineyards as a rosé with bubbles. Why? Because unlike many sparkling wines, which too often are as ba nal as liquid Melba toast, Schramsb erg Brut Rosé 2003 tastes like wine — a rosé wine, to be precise. Then add bubbles Think of a really tasty rosé spritzer and you’ve got it.

Probably the folks at Schramsberg, who are serious about sparkling wine, would as soon not have their rosé with bubbles — excuse me, Brut Rosé — so frivolously de scribed, but really, it’s meant as a compli ment.

This is great rosé wine, redolent of the raspberry, cranberry, and straw berry scents of pinot noir (58%) and given finesse and balance with chardonnay (42%). What emerges is nothing less than captivating, as well as — dare I say it? — seriously sub stantial. It can take you through an en tire meal or hold its own against a sun set. And it has bubbles. What’s not to like? $33.

MUSCADET “CLOS DES BRIORDS” VIEILLES VIGNES 2005, DOMAINE DE LA PÉPIÈRE Every Saturday I listen to Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC. As he has for decades, Mr. Schwartz celebrates the Great American Songbook. I mention this because Mr. Schwartz has no compunc tions about regularly repeating what he considers to be the definitive versions of one or another classic or soon-to-be-clas sic song.

At first you think, “Surely there are oth er versions worth hearing.” And surely there are. But Mr. Schwartz has demon strated to me that some songs — or wines — are so singularly performed that not only do they deserve repeated play but they require it. They are the bench marks.

That, by way of a long-winded pref ace, is why I feel no compunction in re peatedly, even metronomically, recom mending Muscadet “Clos des Briords Vieilles Vignes from Domaine de la Pépière in every good vintage. Like Ella Fitzgerald, it cannot be praised too high ly or too often.

The 2005 Clos des Briords — as Mus cadet fans familiarly contract the name — is a great vintage. This is dense (for Muscadet), utterly dry, intensely mineral tasting white wine that accompanies all the usual fish suspects today and will be come ever more resonant and dimen sional with additional cellaring. A great Muscadet such as this improves effort lessly over a decade or longer. It’s be yond a deal at $12.95 a bottle — it’s a steal. Also, magnums (rare for Muscadet are available for $29.