Stelo Italian Wine

The Romans called the wild vines growing at the edges (labrum) of cultivated fields (bruscum) labrusca vitis. The name evolved over time into Lambrusco, and refers to a family of vines cultivated principally in Northern Italy. The most important of these vines in terms of wine production are Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Salamino (so named because its bunches are said to resemble salami) and Lambrusco Grasparossa (named for the red ‚i rosso – colour of its stem – raspo). Lambrusco di Sorbara produces the lightest and zestiest wines of the three. It has a luscious, strawberry-juice hue. On the nose some find violets, and on the palate, it offers hints of frozen strawberries and cherries. Wine made from 100% Lambrusco Salamino has a dark, almost opaque purple colour with violet froth. It has a brambly fruit flavour and medium body. Lambrusco Grasparossa is ruby with a cherry coloured froth. Its flavours are broader and the least precise of the three. Single-variety wines may be made from each of these grapes, or they may be blended with other Lambrusco sub-varieties, such as Lambrusco Marani, Lambrusco Maestri and Lambrusco Ruberti. Andrea Bacci, Pope Sextus V‚is medical advisor and author of one of the major works on the topic of Italian wines, ‚iDe Naturali Vinorum Histoira dei Vinis Italiae‚i, may well be the first to have note of the differences in the various Lambrusco zones. He states ‚iOn the hills in front of the city of Modena, Lambrusco vines are cultivated, whose white and red grapes yield delicious, spicy and fragrant wines which froth when poured into a glass.‚i These vineyards within the province of Modena continue to yield the most prized wines. Among these, Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC, made from a blend of a minimum of 60% di Sorbara, and a maximum 40% Salamino, is usually designed for early drinking, while Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro (made from a minimum of 85% of the named grape), and the intensely aromatic and concentrated Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce (made from a minimum of 90% of the named grape) can have sufficient structure to allow them to keep for up to five years. All of these wines are made in both red and rosè versions. The Lambrusco Reggiano DOC is located in the province of Reggio Emilia and produces just about every style under the sun from various blends of Lambrusco grapes: sparkling white wines, reds and rosès. The Lombardy region produces Lambrusco Mantovano DOC. This light and fruity blended Lambrusco wine is made in red and rosè styles. Traditional Lambrusco was a fairly dry wine whose sparkle was produced by a second fermentation in bottle ‚i just like Champagne. Advances in technology in the 1960s radically changed Lambrusco‚is style. With the introduction of the Charmat method (which allowed the second fermentation to take place in large tanks rather than in bottle) it was possible for producers to dramatically increase volume and to make the wine sweet. It was this style ‚i one defined by industrial-sized volume producers ‚i which, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, literally flooded the United States market, where it was promoted as a kind of Italian Coca-Cola. During its heyday, Lambrusco accounted for around 50% of all Italian wine imported into the United States. As a representative for a large Modena-based wine company told me: ‚iWe were addicted by the business in America in the 1980s ‚i anything fizzy with the name Lambrusco on the label sold like crazy. Lambrusco was no longer thought of as a wine but rather as a beverage category.‚i But by the 1990s wine lovers had become more sophisticated and their motto became: ‚iless but better‚i. And ‚ibetter‚i, in the case of Lambrusco, means fresh fruit rather than simple sweetness and a definable structure rather than the amorphous softness of mass-production. Ruby tending to brick red. The wine is generally full-bodied, with soft tannins. It is high in acidity. On the palate, there is a seduSorbara-based wines will be a luscious pink, those with more Grasparossa will be a darker cherry-colour, while those based on Salamino will be very dark purple with a lively violet froth. All Lambrusco will be low in alcohol (around 10.5°) and should have fresh, zippy acidity. On the palate its broad fruit flavours can include strawberry, raspberry and wild berry fruit. The finish should be clean.