Welcome back at the Passionist,

Today I want to talk about one of my favourite passions: the wine. I want to start this series with one of the most exported and appreciated Italian wine in the world. For many Italians it is the first wine they started to enjoy: Lambrusco.

Lambrusco has multiple personalities: it is very local and typical, but it is also one of the most international Italian wines, it is exported everywhere in the world, from Europe, especially Germany, to America and Asia. Lambrusco is also one the most popular wines in Italy, in the 2020 it was the first in volume of sales. Many people confuse its diffusion with an undervaluation of the wine, but Lambrusco can be a very good alternative on many occasions.

The origin of this wine is ancient, probably it is one of the oldest wines in Italy, there are historical documents from before the roman period, more than 2000 years ago, with the Etruscans.

The Lambrusco is not only a wine, it is, first of all, a red fruit with a small grape …or better, it’s a group of more than 60 varieties of grapes but less than 15 are used today to produce wine.  This is already a unique characteristic, not many grapes have this quantity of varieties.

The grapes of Lambrusco are autochthonous, and they are now cultivated in many Italian regions of north but the region where the Lambrusco is a sort of religion is only one: Emilia Romagna, especially in the Emilia side but the area included a small part of Lombardy.

The typical area of Lambrusco is around the towns of region Emilia, Modena, and Parma and in Lombardy, in the province of mantua. This area is in the centre of the fertile po valley.

From the small red grapes of Lambrusco, we can make many different wines with a unique common point: the bubbles.

Lambrusco wine is typically a slightly sparkling red wine, a very uncommon feature, there are not many sparkling red wines in the world and Lambrusco is the most famous.

Lambrusco is often made with an intense ruby red colour, but it is common also as blush or, if you prefer the other term, rose.

The colour of Lambrusco is partially indicative of the wine, will see there are different.

Lambrusco is a small world to discover it can have variable percentage of alcohol, from 7.5˚ to 12˚.

It is normally considered a light bodied wine, but it could be also medium bodied.

The Lambrusco can be dry, medium-dry, or sweet.

It can be also made as spumante, sometimes with a classic method instead of the common Charmat.

Also, if the traditional area of production is not so big, we can find 8 different DOC Lambrusco. DOC means Controlled Designation of Origin, the equivalent of PDO for food, protected designation of origin:

• 4 near Modena: Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Lambrusco Salamino di Santacroce and Lambrusco di Modena
• 2 near Reggio Emilia: Lambrusco Reggiano and Lambrusco dei colli di Scandiano e Canossa
• 1 in Parma: Lambrusco dei colli di Parma
• 1 in Mantua: Lambrusco Mantovano.

Lambrusco is a wine easy to appreciate and drink, it is a funny wine, appreciated from everyone, also from the people normally do not love the red wine. It is a mix of unique characteristics: red or rose wine normally light bodied, slightly sparkling, dry, or medium-dry and easy to pair.

Lambrusco is perfect with cheeses, especially the aged and hard, with charcuteries, meat in general, it is perfect in a BBQ with friends but also with pizza or pasta, especially with a Bolognese sauce or a lasagna.  The Lambrusco can be drunk also with some fish as sardine, salmon, herrings, or tuna it does not cover their flavour and the bubbles help to clean the mouth.

Lambrusco is wine to drink in every moment, friendly, good as aperitif and a perfect wine for company, commercially I consider it as a sort of prosecco in red.

If you have never tried the medium-dry version or amabile, I suggest taking it, it is really lovable, the literal meaning of amabile.

Enjoy your Lambrusco and write me your experience, do you know it? Which is your opinion? Let me know, leave a comment, click like and subscribe my channel, follow me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Follow your passion!