I just started working at Ye Olde Wine Shoppe downtown. The shop is run by a kindly older gentleman by the name of Mike O’Conner, known in the trade as “Uncle Mike.” It was the early afternoon, and it was Hell’s Kitchen outside – a typical So Cal summer day. Inside the store, the air conditioner was humming a merry tune, keeping the wines and the people nice and cool.

The bell jingled and in came a white-haired wine salesman named BC, wearing a gray suit and toting a heavy black wine bag. After acknowledging how hot it was outside, he asked us if we wanted to taste some summer wines.

I said sure, and we headed downstairs to the wine bar while Uncle Mike watched the register. I have known BC for a long time and always thought he was a very good wine salesman. He’s known for his keen sense of humor, his honesty and his knowledge of wine – a contrast to most salespeople in the trade. BC stands for Bill Clifton, but he earned the nickname from being in the wine industry so long. “I sold wine for the Last Supper,” he often jokes. “It was a watery shiraz.”

I grabbed a pair of wine glasses and a dump bucket as he opened the wine bag. The nylon bag had small pockets where blue ice kept the wines at the proper temperature.

“I grabbed six of my favorite summertime wines,” BC said in his silky Midwestern voice. “When it’s hot like it is today, I think it’s best to keep the wines simple and cheap. Leave the beautiful and complex bordeauxs and burgundies for the fall. It’s time for the picnic, the beach and the barbecue. All these wines retail for under $15.”

While he poured the first white wine in my glass, I said: “I always tell my customers that the most important thing about summer wines is that they are served at the proper temperature. You have to use the fridge, the ice chest and the champagne bucket to keep things at the right temperature.”

BC nodded his head in agreement and said: “No question about that, it’s very difficult for me to keep wines at the right temperature when it’s 90 degrees and you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. I see at least a dozen clients a day, and I try to keep my whites, sparkling wines and rosés at 45 degrees, and the reds at 60 degrees. As you know, if you serve the wines too cold they close up, and if you serve the reds too hot, all you can taste is the burning alcohol. I store my white and red wines in the trunk of my Ford in two separate ice chests.”

I knew it was difficult for BC to keep his wines at the proper temperature during the summer. It’s miserable to drive a hundred miles a day in the heat selling wine as a commissioned salesperson. But you sell wine or you starve, and that is the summertime blues.

“You know, when it’s hot as hell outside and you show a customer a cabernet, they think you’re torturing them, so I show them more of the chilled stuff,” BC said as I sniffed the first wine.

The wine was an Oregon pinot gris from Bethel Heights, a producer that I liked. It was light but still had lots of body, plenty of fruity flavors and a lot more depth than most of the pinot grigios on the market. I bought 10 cases.

As BC wrote down that order, I tasted the second wine, a Pomelo sauvignon blanc, which is a California white from winemaker Randy Mason. It was crisp and full of citrus flavors. I bought 25 cases.

BC poured me some pink stuff. “I know how much you like white zin, so I didn’t bring you any,” he said. “This is a rosé from Spanish producer Marques de Caceres. It’s dry, fruity and freshly made with mostly tempranillo, the noble Spanish grape.” I bought five cases.

The next wine was a Joseph Drouhin beaujolais. It was light, with ample red fruit, and was smooth as silk. You could chill it and treat it like a white wine. It was good, but having an ample inventory of beaujolais, I passed on it.

I broke out the champagne flutes for the Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé, a wonderful sparkling pinot noir, and bought 15 cases.

The last wine BC showed me was a Domaine Paul Autard Cotes du Rhone, a wonderful barbecue wine – smooth, with a nice mid-palate of syrah, grenache and mourvedre. It was delicious, so bought 10 cases.

I shook BC’s hand and wished him luck at his next stop.