A year or two ago I was talking with a longtime wine friend, whose palate and knowledge I greatly respect, and we reminisced about the old days while sipping a favorite red wine from France’s Beaujolais region.

Early on in the conversation, he matter-of-factly asked for a glass of ice. I didn’t think much of it, figuring he would munch on the ice to cool off, as it was a hot day. But to my surprise, he poured his Beaujolais into the glass over the ice!

I was astounded. Here was a wine produced from vines well over 100 years old, organically and biodynamically farmed by a family that has owned the farm for more than 500 years, being poured over ice and then gulped!

Was this wine blasphemy? Shouldn’t such wines be swirled, sipped and savored? The winemakers would think so. So would most wine aficionados.

After his first gulp my friend let out a big “Ahhhhhh,” followed by a huge smile.

He sensed my bewilderment and urged me to try it. I did — and it was completely refreshing and thirst-quenching. I understood.

While the wine was already one of my favorites, it took on a whole new personality on ice.

I am certainly not advocating drinking all wines this way. But in cases like this one, in which a wine is delicious, light and has a refreshing and uplifting acidity, serving it on the rocks on an especially warm day really does make sense.

With summer fast approaching — and I think it will be a hot one — here are a few other wines you might consider drinking on the rocks to cool and refresh. All are grown in marine-influenced soils, which create a mesmerizing minerality and buoyancy in the finished wine that make them ideal for squelching the summer heat.

Saracco Moscato d’Asti (about $16 a bottle): This delightfully light, delicious, slightly sweet Italian white wine is moderately fizzy and low in alcohol. Although many other parts of the world have tried to duplicate this wine’s magic, in my opinion no one has yet come close. Here the moscato grape variety is grown in northwestern Italy in mostly sand- and limestone-soil hills surrounding the town of Asti, amid surprisingly cool growing conditions. The result: wines like no others.

Because of the meteoric popularity of moscato d’asti in the U.S., a tidal wave of brands are now making their way to market. I suggest caution when selecting one. Understand that in many cases, very low prices reflect the kind of product you are buying.

As for the Saracco rendition, it will certainly do the job on the rocks or ice cold. Consider serving it well chilled at the end of the meal. It will be an uplifting way to end the night.

Filippo Gallino Birbet (about $19): Here is a red-wine counterpart to the moscato that comes from the same general area. The grape variety here, however, is brachetto. In the old days, brachetto produced marginally interesting reds.

Somewhere along the line, someone had the ingenious idea to make this wonderfully aromatic variety into a slightly sweet, fizzy, lower-alcohol wine that registers pink to red. The best examples fell under the Brachetto d’Acqui appellation, which received its DOC classification (a designation-of-origin label of quality assurance) in 1969. Because of its rapid growth in popularity, especially in the U.S., Brachetto d’Acqui prices have sharply increased.

This Birbet is a good alternative to a pricey Brachetto d’Acqui. Because of governmental regulations, wines produced from brachetto in the same style, but grown in the lesser-known Roero region, must instead be labeled Birbet. I love this bottling’s unpretentious, refreshing, uplifting personality, well chilled or on the rocks.

Patrick Bottex Vin du Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille” (about $23): I think the family that produces this wine might think it disrespectful to serve it on ice. After all, it takes passion, dedication, great patience and care to grow these grapes on La Cueille, one of seven high-altitude hamlets and steep, limestone slopes up in the southern Jura mountains. Furthermore, they use the “methode ancestrale,” a rare, ancient technique for producing sparkling wine that experts believe predates the “methode champenoise” (classic champagne method).

OK, so maybe we skip the ice for this one and look to serve it especially well chilled. This wine is quite surprising upon first taste, deliciously fruity and fizzy, much like the Birbet, but more refined. In most cases I see a smile on the faces of those trying it for the first time, and that smile broadens with the second and third gulps.