The journalEntertaining
What to pour at your Labor Day cookout
Written by Ashburn Wine Shop | Bar & BistroAugust 4, 2026 · 1 minute read
Labor Day is Monday, September 7 this year, which means you have exactly one long weekend left to pretend summer isn't ending. Do it properly.
Three bottles, one grill, zero overthinking. Here's the lineup.
Open with something cold and loud
Henri Champliau's Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé earned a 95-point Gold from Decanter and costs about half what actual Champagne would for the same welcome-mat moment. Pink grapefruit, brioche, fine bubbles. Hand someone a glass of this at the door and the party starts on time.
The white that survives everything on the table
Riva de la Rosa comes out of Friuli, Italy's white-wine country, and it does something New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc can't: enough restraint to handle corn, potato salad, and whatever mystery dip somebody brought, without picking a fight with any of it. Twenty-two dollars, and five bottles left on our shelf right now.
The red that actually wants to be cold
Glup Glup Grancha is a Garnacha built to be chilled, which makes it the one red that doesn't sit out sweating on the picnic table. Twenty minutes in a cooler and it's raspberry, tart cherry and a little black pepper, happy next to a burger and completely unbothered by ninety-degree Loudoun heat.
That's the whole list. Grab all three, or grab whichever fits your cooler, and come tell us how the burgers turned out. We'll be pouring something similar at the bar all weekend.
