Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico&hellip; Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine&rsquo;s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

This development has not been historically exclusive to Chianti, leading to the creation of more than one Classico district. In general, the Classico wines tend to be slightly better as these regions are smaller and have stricter rules regarding plantings and winemaking. If not better, at least more traditional and typical of the region.

The most well-known Classico regions, apart from Chianti, would be Valpolicella Classico making red wine from Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, also known as the grapes for Amarone. Valpolicella Classico is located within Valpolicella in the region Veneto, also home to two lesser known Classico regions: Bardolino Classico and Soave Classico. Bardolino Classico is located to the west of Valpolicella and produced from the same grapes, while Soave Classico, in contrast to the rest, makes white wine from the local Garganega. All great wines and certainly part of the Italian wine history.

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Matteos Ristorante Italiano

Certified sommelier and wine educator Maria Valetta and Robert Tas review the wine list at Matteo’s in Las Vegas where they offer a deliciously Italian menu in a contemporary setting. 

Wine List Review of Matteo's Las Vegas

Maria Valetta

Matteo's

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Matteo&rsquo;s, Las Vegas

Robert Tas 
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to CorkRules, the wine app and podcast that&#39;s here to help you navigate all your favorite restaurant wine lists. I&#39;m your host, Robert TAS, along with Maria Valletta, wine educator and certified sommelier, also better known as Maria the wine blonde on Instagram. Welcome back, Maria. 
 
Maria Valetta 
Well, hello, Robert. Today we&#39;re talking about a northern Italian favorite in Las Vegas, aren&#39;t we? 
 
Robert Tas 
We sure are. That&#39;s true. Today we&#39;re highlighting the wine list at Mateo&#39;s restaurante, located, of course, in Restaurant Row at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in beautiful Las Vegas. Restaurant tour Mateo Ferdanindi and chef Ariana set out to create an approachable dining experience. And you can be sure there&#39;s something for everyone on this Northern Italian food menu. Don&#39;t miss the delicate homemade pasta dishes that are the favorites amongst the power lunch crowd and a dinner, and you can expect to see dozens of small plates being passed at the table&#39;s, family style. Maria, this place sounds like an amazing dining experience. My kind of place. How does this wine list stack up for you? 
 
Maria Valetta 
This list, actually, Robert, has so many lovely indigenous Italian varietals on it. Definitely exceeded my expectations. It&#39;s going to be a perfect companion to the food, and I can happily say there are plenty of options that are reasonably priced. So I love this list. And also, you should know that they offer a corkage fee where you&#39;re welcome to bring in your own wines as long as they&#39;re not on their present wine list. So for $40 a bottle, that gives you even more options. Another thing us winos love. 
 
Robert Tas 
I love that. I love that you can check the list and see if it&#39;s on the Cork Rules app. Well, that&#39;s a plus. Sometimes you just have to bring that special bottle from home that you want to share with all your loved ones. 
 
Maria Valetta 
That&#39;s right. And we bring a wine when we can, and normally we also order a bottle at the restaurant, so then this way we&#39;re supporting the restaurant, too. I feel like that&#39;s really good etiquette when you can do that. 
 
Robert Tas 
And I always say that you got to tip on both bottles because the servers do great jobs, and we want to make sure, like you said, support them.

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Maria Valetta 
I agree. They are doing the work and pouring it for you. They don&#39;t just stick it on the table and have you do it yourself. 
 
Robert Tas 
Exactly. So, all right, how does this place wines by the glass stack up? 
 
Maria Valetta 
So this is a place where you don&#39;t have to order by the bottle, especially if you&#39;re at the bar by yourself, because the Bly, the glass options are interesting enough. And standouts for me are the Riviera Liguori di Ponente. So this is from Ligoria, Italy, where you find that beautiful region of Portofino. Yeah. And Pagato is a white wine that&#39;s all about this kind of floral and fruit aromas with a slightly rich texture. So try it with the sepia, which is the grilled baby calamari with the Calabrian pepper crema. I love that dish. Now, if you can&#39;t help yourself and go straight to the pasta here, because you&#39;re going to see these pasta dishes just, like, zooming by you, and you&#39;re like, oh, my gosh, I&#39;m definitely going for the pasta, and that&#39;s my first course, and it&#39;s worth every calorie here. Then this duo with a pairing is going to be fantastic. The Piedmontesi pasta, which is the braised beef short rib annulote with a Nebbiolo reduction. And then the 2018 Valtiglione, Piemonte, Italy. This is a buy the glass wine. And it&#39;s so great to see this Nebbiolo based wine and then pairing it with a sauce that&#39;s made with Nebbiolo. 
 
Robert Tas 
I love it. I love it. I can&#39;t agree more. When you have a grape specific wine sauce, it makes so much sense to order a glass by the same type of wine to go with that meal. 
 
Maria Valetta (<a href="https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/d9ce5c2cf4e2484b93d2ec1fba1f8c42/edit?organization_id=8890186&amp;position=206.36&amp;utm_source=happyscribe&amp;utm_medium=document_deep_link&amp;utm_campaign=editor_copy_section&amp;utm_content=d9ce5c2cf4e2484b93d2ec1fba1f8c42">03:26</a>) 
Yeah, it&#39;s like when I&#39;m cooking, I throw a splash in my cooking while I&#39;m drinking my wine. It&#39;s perfection together.

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Robert Tas 
I like it. I like it. All right, so how about those wines by the bottle? You said there was quite a few reasonably priced. Why don&#39;t you select a few value ones for us? 
 
Maria Valetta 
All right, now, if you want to start with bubbles, then I recommend the Franciacorta - Ferghettina, &ldquo;brut&rdquo;, Lombardia, Italy. It&#39;s a dry style, champagne style, made sparkling from Lombardia, Italy.. Everybody knows that. And then for whites, definitely go with the 2020 Arneis Roagna, Piemonte, Italy One of my favorite interesting Italian grape varieties. Now, for reds, on the lighter body side, I would check out the 2015 Piedirosso, Kerres, &ldquo;I Pentri&rdquo;, Campania, Italy. So Pierre Roso is native to campagna. That&#39;s the area where you&#39;ll find the town of Positano. There&#39;s very little of this grape grown in Italy, so this is a gem to find on a list here. It&#39;s easy drinking. It&#39;s a bright red, it&#39;s fresh, and it&#39;s amazing. 
 
Robert Tas 
Amazing. Any Barolos Barbaresco&#39;s on that list that are wallet friendly. 
 
Maria Valetta 
Wallet friendly. Barolo. Barbaresco. Funny. No, actually, though, if you like those wines, rollo and barbaresco, but not the prices that come with them, then try this, the - cascina chicco &ldquo;ginestra&rdquo;, piemonte, italy 2015 Now, this is made from the same grape, so it&#39;s still Nebbiolo, but younger vines on average age of about 20 years. So you&#39;ll still get this, like, violet and brightness and cherries and tar and spice, but they do less time of maceration, so four to five days versus about 15 for the barolo and less time aging overall. So it will be less tanic, but then therefore easier to drink young like this and definitely better priced.

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Robert Tas 
I like that. I like that. All right, forget price. We want to celebrate something big. We want to ball out. What do you got? 
 
Maria Valetta 
Okay, well, then you have to start with champagne. You just have to and they have one of my favorite producers, Pierre Peters. They have les Chatillon&rsquo;s &ldquo;brut cuvee speciale&rdquo;, le Mesnil sur Oger, France special from Le Manels de OJ. And this is a 2010 vintage champagne. Champagne is the way to go, right? 
 
Robert Tas 
Always. 
 
Maria Valetta 
If you&#39;re balling out, I like that. 
 
Robert Tas 
You can&#39;t go wrong with that. All right, so we got our champagne toast out of the way. How about maybe an old world and a New World red to get us going? 
 
Maria Valetta 
That&#39;s a good idea, actually. And this may be the time to drop some dough on some Barolo. So I would recommend the Mascarello Montprivato Barolo from Piedmont. 2013, a great year for Barolo. And then in the new world, cali would be the way to go with the Crutz Beckstaffer, George II Vineyard, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018. Think like sexy Rutherford Dust famous vineyard here. And 2018 is actually fairly easy. Drinking a luscious vintage. Everyone I&#39;ve had of 2018 hasn&#39;t been overly tanic, it&#39;s just been really easy to drink. But I would have them decant this one for about an hour ahead of time and then pair it with meat. So the Anielo, which is the seared Australian lamb chops with rosemary and red wine reduction, that&#39;s going to be the good pairing to pick for the end of the meal.

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Robert Tas 
That&#39;s an amazing tasty pairing to end on. Thank you so much, Maria, for exploring the wine list of Mateo&#39;s Restaurante Italiano in Las Vegas with us today. Thank you, everyone, for joining us here on Cork Rules. Of course, you can find more wine tips for Maria on Instagram at maria the Wine Blonde. And of course, remember our only rule is to drink what you love. 
 
Maria Valetta 
It&#39;s here. The CorkRules. App. Download it for free today from the app store so you can browse restaurant wine lists, connect with your friends and start drinking wines you love. Have a favorite wine list? Let us review it here. Send us your request at info at. You can find previous episodes on your favorite podcast platform and on the CorkRules app. Be sure to follow Cork Rules on Instagram for episode updates, prices, inspections subject to change. Please drink responsibly.

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