While shopping in a favorite wine store, most wine lovers fall into the habit of putting familiar International wine varieties into their cart, like Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon. Now that most of us are shopping online, what a perfect time to pop a new, indigenous wine variety into our online cart.
Spring shines as the perfect season to try Lambrusco, a gently sparkling wine from the Emilia-Romagna region of northeast Italy. The mouth-watering aromas and flavors of sour cherry, blackberry, violet and rhubarb render it a great wine to pair with the spring season’s bounty of lamb chops accompanied with garden fresh asparagus. Lambrusco also pairs well with grilled salmon or chicken.
Lambrusco’s History
Cato the Elder (234–149 BC), serving as Consul of the Roman Republic, wrote of Lambrusco’s value as a healthy, high yielding grape variety – a positive attribute in times of famine.
Americans first became aware of Lambrusco in the 1960s. The most famous Lambrusco brand, Riunite, was created by several Emilia-Romagna producers expressly to appeal to the American palate at that time. Sweet, frizzante (which means slightly sparkling in Italian) and gently priced, it was an immediate hit thanks to its television advertisements (legal at the time) with a catchy jingle (“Riunite on ice, how nice”). Americans eventually tired of the style – and began to ridicule the wine for its syrupy, bubble-gum flavors.
Today’s “New” Lambrusco
Sommeliers in prominent restaurants and wine writers are trying to play up Lambrusco as today’s hot new trend. More than a few Italian producers these days are revitalizing Lambrusco with hip labels, designed to appeal to the millennial generation. The label from Lini910, for example, uses a typeface for the word “Lambrusco” that looks like a Captcha code (a series of distorted letters and numbers). Leaning against the distorted letter “L” on the label illustration is a plump, smiling ancient Roman – a nod to the wine’s ancient past.
Most people think of Lambrusco as a single grape. Yet it is a family of grapes. This said, the aroma and taste of Lambrusco is quite distinctive and only the winemakers themselves and local oenologists could easily tell the different types apart.
Lambrusco: A Family of Grapes
For the record, the four highest quality grapes are Lambrusco di Sorbara (the lightest in color), Lambrusco Maestri (fresh with a slight bubble-gum character on the nose), Lambrusco Grasparossa (firm tannins, savory and bright) and Lambrusco Salamino (producing wines that are ruby-purple in color, fruity and grapey). Producers can create a blended Lambrusco or use a single Lambrusco type. For example, as Lambrusco Grasparossa primarily grows around the town of Castelvetro di Modena, many producers in the area create a bottling of 100% Lambrusco Grasparossa
Paul's Lambrusco is made with Salamino and Grasparosso grapes and pairs really well with Pizza, Burgers and delightful for Turkey Day! He has used it to start his In-Home Dining Experiences for over 5k clients
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