&nbsp;

Memorial Day weekend signals the official kick-off to summer, and what better way to celebrate than a backyard barbecue with friends and family? But for the wine lovers out there, the usual pairing of burgers and beer can feel a little, well, uninspired.

Fear not, fellow geeks! Let&#39;s ditch the predictable and dive into three exciting wine options that will have you sipping and savoring alongside the sizzling BBQ.

1. The Smoky Sangiovese for the Grill Master:

Sangiovese, the backbone of Chianti Classico, is a fantastic choice for the grill. It offers bright acidity to cut through rich meats and smoky flavors that complement the char from the grill. Look for bottles from regions like Montalcino (Brunello di Montalcino) or Montepulciano (Vino Nobile di Montepulciano) for a touch more structure and depth. Feeling adventurous? Explore a smoky Sangiovese from lesser-known regions in Tuscany like Maremma or Colli Senesi for a truly unique pairing.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Castello-di-Volpaia-Chianti-Classico-2021-w5240771pj">Castello di Volpaia - Chianti Classico 2021 - $23.99</a>

Castello di Volpaia is located in an 11th century village that bears the same name.&nbsp;It sits on a hilltop just north of the town of Radda in Chianti, 2,024 feet above sea level, in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. One of the most historical wineries of the region, Volpaia is owned by the Mascheroni-Stianti family and benefits from some of the highest altitude southern exposure vineyards of the area, delivering certified organic Sangiovese-based wines of finesse and elegance with a terroir approach.

Wine Spectator: 92 Points

A racy version, this boasts black cherry, blueberry, violet and iron flavors. A firm line of tannins works in concert with the acidity, while flashes of Mediterranean scrub peek through. Mouthwatering finish. Sangiovese and Merlot. Drink now through 2032.

Vinous: 92 Points

The 2021 Chianti Classico is an absolute joy. Fragrant, silky and super-expressive, the 2021 captures all the finesse of Radda. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petal, orange peel and mint are all beautifully delineated in a vibrant, mid-weight Chianti Classico that has so much to offer. This is a fine showing. - Antonio Galloni

2. The Gamay Gems for the Lighter Fare:

Don&#39;t relegate Gamay to Beaujolais Nouveau! This versatile grape thrives in cool climates, producing wines with vibrant acidity and juicy red fruit notes. Cru Beaujolais wines like Fleurie or Morgon offer a delightful complexity, while Gamay from other regions like the Loire Valley in France or even New York State can be surprisingly delicious with lighter grilled fare like chicken or veggie burgers.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Michel-Lafarge-Bourgogne-Rouge-Passetoutgrain-L-Exception-2020-w08026475m">Michel Lafarge - Bourgogne Rouge Passetoutgrain L&#39;Exception 2020 - $36.99</a>

Size:&nbsp;1.00 ha (2.47 ac) /&nbsp;Variety:&nbsp;50% Pinot Noir, 50% Gamay /&nbsp;Vine Age:&nbsp;Planted in 1926 /&nbsp;Terroir:&nbsp;Clay limestone soil /&nbsp;Viticulture:&nbsp;Certified organic (Ecocert) and biodynamic (Demeter) /&nbsp;Vinification:&nbsp;100%&nbsp;de-stemmed, lightly crushed, pneumatic press, indigenous yeast fermentation. Aged for 15-18 months in barrel, unfiltered.

Decanter: 93 Points

A deeply lovely fruit character, with plenty of forward red berry fruit nicely dressed with floral notes and a silky, fine texture which is set off by a lively and refreshing acidity. A perennial favourite and exceptional indeed. This is produced from a blend of half Pinot Noir and half Gamay, both from 95-year-old biodynamically worked vines.&nbsp;The grapes are destemmed and fermented on native yeasts prior to ageing over two winters in cask. &nbsp;Drinking 2022 -2030&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Curtis MW

Wine Advocate

The 2020 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain l&#39;Exception bursts with aromas of sweet red berries, petals and orange rind. Medium-bodied, bright and lively, with powdery tannins and a tightly knit core, don&#39;t underestimate this bottling: it will really reward some patience, and especially so this year. Drinking 2023 - 2040&mdash; William Kelley&nbsp;

3. The Sparkling Extravaganza for Pure Fun:

Let&#39;s not forget the fun factor! Sparkling wines are fantastic BBQ companions, offering a refreshing palate cleanse between bites and a festive air to the occasion. Explore beyond the usual Prosecco and delve into grower Champagnes for a truly celebratory experience. For something different, try a Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna in Italy. These slightly sweet, fizzy reds are perfect with grilled sausages or spicy dishes.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Saetti-Rosso-Dell-Emilia-Viola-Lambrusco-2022-w10029770n">Saetti - Rosso Dell Emilia Viola Lambrusco 2022 - $23.99</a>

Luciano Saetti makes stunning, evocative Lambrusco just outside of Modena. He is of a generation that decided to return to traditional methods and eschew modern practices that contributed to Lambrusco&#39;s poor reputation. The 2.8 hectares of vines he works were planted by his family in 1964. Prior to his taking over, they sold off most of their fruit to the local coop.

Luciano, however, thought that they could do better and so after a successful first career as an egg distributor in Modena, he founded Vigneto Saetti in 1998. He saw the value in the family&rsquo;s old vines of a particular local strain of the Lambrusco grape called Salamino di Santa Croce. It&rsquo;s thick-skinned, tight-bunched, darker-colored and higher in natural acidity than some other more common varieties of Lambrusco.

Bonus Tip: Consider the weather! If it&#39;s a scorcher, opt for lighter-bodied wines like Gamay or chilled reds like Sangiovese. For cooler evenings, a bolder Zinfandel or a GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourv&egrave;dre) could be delightful.

So, this Memorial Day weekend, ditch the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary. With these exciting wine options, your BBQ will be a celebration for the taste buds as well as a toast to good times with loved ones.

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Memorial Day weekend signals the official kick-off to summer, and what better way to celebrate than a backyard barbecue with friends and family? But for the wine lovers out there, the usual pairing of burgers and beer can feel a little, well, uninspired.

Fear not, fellow geeks! Let's ditch the predictable and dive into three exciting wine options that will have you sipping and savoring alongside the sizzling BBQ.

Memorial Day BBQ Bash: 3 Wines to Geek Out Over (While Grilling)

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

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

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

Yardbird

Robert Tas talks wine with Maria Valetta, wine educator, and certified sommelier, also known as Maria The Wine Blonde on Instagram.

Wine List Review of Yardbird Venetian, Las Vegas

Maria Valetta

Yardbird Venetian

&nbsp;

Wine list

<a href="https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/content/dam/venetian/restaurants/yardbird/beverage-menu.pdf">https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/content/dam/venetian/restaurants/yardbird/beverage-menu.pdf</a>

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Dinner

<a href="https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/content/dam/venetian/restaurants/yardbird/dinner-menu.pdf">https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/content/dam/venetian/restaurants/yardbird/dinner-menu.pdf</a>

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&nbsp;

RT): Hi Everyone, welcome back to CorkRules! The wine APP AND podcast that&rsquo;s here to help YOU navigate all your favorite restaurant wine lists.

I&rsquo;m your host, Robert Tas, along with Maria Valetta, wine educator, and certified sommelier, also known as Maria The Wine Blonde on Instagram. Welcome back Maria

&nbsp;

MV: Hi Robert! Hi everyone.. stick around because today&#39;s episode is all about comfort food!

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RT:&nbsp; That&rsquo;s right Maria, We are talking about Yardbird Las Vegas in the Venetian hotel and casino. Classic southern comfort food is the kind of food that brings people together and that&rsquo;s exactly what Yardbird restaurant is all about. Their famous 27-hour brined, fried chicken is a must-try and so is their over-the-top,

all-American, weekend brunch! Maria I can&rsquo;t wait to see which wines you pair with Fried Chicken!

&nbsp;

MV: haha! This is going to be fun! So if you like your Yardbird fried chicken dipped in their Honey Hot sauce&hellip; , then go for a glass of the Champagne Brut - Drappier Carte d&rsquo;Or France NV&nbsp; it will cut the spice real nice,&nbsp; but if you like your bird just simply crunchy then I would say go for the Chalk Hill Sonoma Coast, Chardonnay California 2020 15 which would also go well with that buttery skillet cornbread!

&nbsp;

RT: And how about something for those ST. Louis Ribs ?

&nbsp;

MV: For those, a glass of The Paring Pinot Noir - Santa Barbara, California 2018 for a lighter bodied wine that always over-delivers or the Merlot Blend - Gundlach Bundschu Mountain Cuv&eacute;e Sonoma County, California 2018 15 personally I&rsquo;d go with the gunbun whoever said no more merlot hasn&rsquo;t has good merlot!

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RT: Now I know this spot is known for their Bourbon but they have to have a decent wine bottle list too I would guess?

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MV : They do! They have about 150 options by the bottle and all ranges of prices&hellip; which is great. They label the sections differently.. instead of&nbsp; just old world and new world they also add in a section called homeland, so homeland whites and homeland reds&hellip;which are all wines from the US, Washington, Oregon, California and even Virginia.&nbsp; For some reason New world white wine section has German and Austrian wines but those are very much old world wine producing regions and so that would be the one tweak I would make is moving them to the old world white section to be listed among France, Italy and Spain

&nbsp;

RT: Yes that makes more sense, It&rsquo;s always important to clarify things for our listeners.

So sounds like they have wines from all over what are the standout value wines?

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MV: So this really got me excited, they have a Sparkling wine made in the traditional method (so champagne style) but it&rsquo;s from England, it&rsquo;s the Chapel Down Classic Brut Kent nv 89

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RT: really? How cool!

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MV: yes! Finally! I&rsquo;ve been waiting for the English sparklers to hit the wine lists here in Las Vegas so bravo Yardbird! When we were visiting London we had a chance to try a few sparklers from England and I am telling you this is going to be the next great sparkling wine region it&#39;s going to give champagne a run for its money. and again going to be so awesome with the fried chicken and waffles &hellip;all those bubbles are going to help cut through the grease., lift and lighten your palate and cleanse it for your very next bite and it&rsquo;s a steal of a price

&nbsp;

RT: that&rsquo;s a paring I can get behind.. any other good pairings?

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MV: Now you mentioned Ribs before.. my hubby loves some smoked &amp; slow-cooked ribs and the Ridge Lytton Springs dry creek 2018 is going to be a killer bottle option for that hickory smoked goodness. This wine is a field blend of mostly Zinfandel with some Petite Syrah and a few other complementary grape varietals. Lots of beautiful fruit expression here, and full-bodied with plush tannins. (find it under the petite syrah heading)

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RT: Sounds delicious. Anything else really interesting? you said Virginia earlier and that got me interested?

&nbsp;

MV: yes they have the Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve 2015 on the list.. this estate winery is near the beautiful blue ridge mountains, owned by an Italian family and the wines have received numerous awards so def worth a try at this great price.

&nbsp;

RT: Nice so speaking of top award-winning wines.. any top dollar wines that really deliver?

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MV: let&rsquo;s see here..&nbsp; Normally I&rsquo;d say only new world to stand up to all the richness in these dishes, but I do believe the Domaine Bachelet-Ramonet B&acirc;tard-Montrachet Grand Cru Burgundy 2011 will be a wow factor&hellip; because of the new French oak, and the power of the terroir&hellip; this is from the area in Burgundy considered to be the best place on earth for white wines!

&nbsp;

RT: That&rsquo;s A stunner for sure! Any reds that would be of equal wow factor

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MV: definitely , try The Mascot Napa Valley 2016 &nbsp;we just had a bottle of the 2014 and it was just insanely delicious 2016 is an even better vintage&hellip; this is made from the younger hillside vines of the famed Harlan Estate. Bill Harlan&#39;s son Will Harlan is the winemaker. 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with Petit Verdot &amp; Cab Franc.

&nbsp;

And one more beauty, before we run out of time, the Sine Qua Non&nbsp; Squeezebox 2018

This is a newer Syrah from this cult wine producer, there are a few other supporting grapes in this but mostly syrah..loads of baking spices and berries in this beaut! Go for the sweet tea braised short rib!

&nbsp;

RT: Sweet tea short ribs and syrah! I love it!

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RT: Well thank you Maria and thank you, everyone, for joining us on another episode of CorkRules. Be sure to download the app from the Appstore to get your personal restaurant wine recommendations right to your phone. You can find more wine educational tips from Maria on Instagram @mariathewineblonde and on the CorkRules app.

&nbsp;

MV: It&rsquo;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.&nbsp;

Have a favorite wine List? Let us review it here. Send us your requests at <a href="mailto:info@corkrules.com">info@CorkRules.com</a> You can find previous episodes on your favorite podcast platform and on The CorkRules app. Be sure to follow @CorkRules on Instagram for episode updates. Prices and selections subject to change, please drink responsibly.

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BRAT

Bocca di Lupe

Gap Weekend: A Film Shoot in Wine Country

Alba Restaurant

Alba

10 Greek Street

L'Auberge Chez Francois

Andrew Edmunds

Salt Seafood and Oyster Bar

Matteos Ristorante Italiano

Matteo's

Frédéric Brouca is a small family-owned winery located in the Languedoc region of France. Frédéric Brouca produces wines that are made with minimal intervention, organic farming, and traditional winemaking techniques. The winery is known for its authentic and expressive wines that reflect the unique terroir of the region.

Classic American & Italian steak & seafood dishes served in a cozy, upscale atmosphere.

Mandolin Aegean Bistro

The Surf Club

Itamae

Itamae Miami

Veranda

Boia De

Huertas

Kesté Pizza & Vino

Keste Pizzeria

Taverna di Bacco

Tavern on the Green

Leyland Brooklyn

Junoon

homepage

CorkRules application allows you to discover wines at your favorite restaurants, learn with friends and be confident with price transparency. Order wine with confidence at restaurants and retailers. Get personalized recommendations. #DrinkWhatYouLove

Tuscany Steakhouse

Ruffino

Chianti NV

Sangiovese

Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

SIMI

Sonoma County Merlot 2018

Merlot

Sonoma County, USA

Luretta

Le Rane 2010

Malvasia

Italy

Weingut Nik Weis - St. Urbans-Hof

Bockstein Ockfen Riesling Kabinett 2017

Riesling

Germany

St. Francis

Old Vines Zinfandel 2018

Zinfandel

Sonoma County, USA

Ruffino

Lumina Pinot Grigio 2016

Pinot Grigio

Italy

Giulia

Fratelli Pighin Collio Pinot Grigio, Italy, Friuli-Venezia 2017

Pinot Grigio

Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

E. Ouzoulias L'or de Calydon, France, Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers 2005

Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend

Bordeaux, France

Masi

Bonacosta Valpolicella Classico 2019

Corvina

Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy

Bacio Divino, Pazzo, Napa Valley 2017

California, USA

Robert Mondavi Winery

Fume Blanc 2018

Sauvignon Blanc

California, USA

Antinori

Peppoli Chianti Classico 2018

Sangiovese

Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

Duckhorn

Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2019

Sauvignon Blanc

California, USA

Michele Chiarlo

Barbera d'Asti Le Orme 2017

Barbera

Barbera d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy

Trapiche

Medalla Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Cabernet Sauvignon

Mendoza, Argentina