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A Lambrusco Love Affair #ItalianFWT

 

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Jennifer from Vino Travels has invited the #ItalianFWT group to discover the wines of Emilia Romagna and/or Liguria this August! I’ve been waiting for this one since I saw the year’s event calendar because I LOVE Lambrusco!!

My very fist sip of Lambrusco happened over 20 years ago but I still remember it. I can picture the restaurant so clearly in my head. It was 2000 and I was in Tübingen for the summer to study German (incidentally, the stupidest place to send German language students). There was an Italian restaurant across bridge over the Neckar and immediately to the left along the Neckarfront. I was not legal drinking age for America and had no idea what to order in this restaurant. How I decided on Lambrusco I don’t know. Imagine my surprise when a carafe of lightly fizzy, deeply colored, off-dry wine landed on the table with my pizza. I was hesitant, but it was love at first sip. Later, back in America and legal, I enjoyed many a bottle of Riunite. To this day, I don’t care if it’s cheap and sweet or serious and dry (although I do prefer the latter), I love Lambrusco.

The Lambrusco Stuff

Thanks to the Italian Wine Scholar program, I have armed myself with a little knowledge about the wine. Made in Emilia Romagna, specifically the Emilia part, Lambrusco is both a style, and a grape. In fact, it’s three grapes!

Terre dei Lambruschi (Land of Lambruscho) surrounds the towns of Reggio Emilia and Modena. This is the heart and historic home of Lambrusco. While it’s always had a good reputation at home, thanks to bulk producers abroad the image of Lambrusco is much like that very first one I had, lightly bubbly, sweet, low alcohol, and not especially interesting. However, quality Lambrusco tends to be dry or off-dry, with refreshing acidity, moderate alcohol, a little tannic, and either frizzante or fully spumante. They can be made in the traditional method (although that’s rare), ancestral method, or Charmat. Of of the three grapes has its own character and the best wines tend to favor one grape or another and come from single vineyards. They can be made as rosso or rosato, frizzante, or spumante and most are finished dry or off-dry

The DOCs

• Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC: from the hills at the base of the Apennines around the town of Castelvetro. Grasparossa is considered the fullest-bodied of the three, tend to be more deeply colored and tannic with intense flavors and dense structure. 
• Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC: vines for this DOC surround the town of Sorbara (which the grape is also called) and includes the city of Modena as well. Wines must have a min of 60% Lambrusco di Sorbara and a max 40% of Lambrusco Salamino. Considered the classic style, these wines are fragrant and elegant with high acidity. 
• Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce DOC: this is DOC with the highest production amount. Wines here are usually finished dry and have a style that finds the middle ground between the above two. 
• Modena DOC: This DOC overlaps all three of the Lambrusco DOCs and, while it’s not in the name, does produce Lambrusco wines. While it can be made from any combination of the Lambrusco grapes, it’s not allowable to label a specific variety, even if the wine is made entirely from a specific grape. Wines tend to be more simple, fruity, and fresh. 

Cleto Chiarli e Figli 

Founded in 1860, Cleto Chiarli e Figli by, no shock here, Cleto Chiarli in Modena, the winery has an interesting back story. Chiarli owned a restaurant called Osteria dell’Artigliere in the mid-1800s. Like many in the day, he made and served his own wine. Naturally, being a Modena-based osteria, Chiarli used the Lambrusco grape(s). People loved his wine so much that he felt emboldened to start what was Emilia Romagna’s first wine-producing company, the Cantina Cleto Chiarli. It became the largest privately-owned producer of Lambrusco. 

The Chiarli family didn’t stop with just making Lambrusco though. Traditionally, this lightly fizzy wine would have been made in the ancestral method. The Chiarlis pioneered the use of the Charmat method.

The business, now in the hands of Chiarli’s great-grandsons, has continued to grow and innovate over the years. It now boasts more than 120 hectares of organic and sustainably farmed vines dedicated to Lambrusco Grasparossa and Lambrusco di Sorbara with smaller amounts of Lambrusco Salamino, Grechetto Gentile, and Chardonnay. 

Cleto Chiarli Vecchia Modena Lambrusco di Modena DOC

The Vecchia Modena I obtained is 100% Lambrusco di Sorbara. Made with some light maceration, lasting 18 to 24 hours before drawing off and first and second fermentations. 

On the pour it was a frothy, but not aggressively bubbly, pink-red with restrained aromas of red berry, cherry, fresh fig, grapefruit, and rose petals. Dry with vivid and refreshing acidity and bright flavors of pomegranate molasses, raspberry, and pink grapefruit peel accompanied by a gently herbal lemon-thyme note. So good! 

I decided to go super simple with the pairing and prepared some light snacks and salads including:

• tomato, mozzarella, basil with olive oil and balsamic glaze
• arugula salad with dried figs, shaved Parmesan, and pecans
• a small board with Parmesan, a local hard cooked cheese called pelit, prosciutto, truffle salami, black cherries, truffle plum jam, Trader Joe’s truffle almonds, and sesame peanuts

The wine was a resounding success with pretty much everything! Huzzah! This just cemented how much I love this wine and my desire to go to Modena to eat and drink for a week. Really, just plop myself down somewhere and have people bring Lambrusco and food in a never ending parade.

But wait! There’s more!

Not only is there so much more to Emilia Romagna, but I didn’t even touch upon Liguria! Don’t forget to check out posts by the other #ItalianFWT members to see what they discovered in these regions. 

• Andrea at The Quirky Cork will share A Lambrusco Love Affair
• Camilla over at Culinary Cam will take you From the Italian Riviera: Animated Sea Monsters, Linguine al Pesto, and Mataóssu 
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles will be Meditating on the Magic of the Cinque Terre with a Sciacchetrà
• Gwendolyn at the Wine Predator shares with us How You Can Help After  Devastating Floods in Emilia-Romagna: Drink Wine Made by Women
• Susannah at Avvinare is Celebrating Summer with Lugurian Gems
• Jennifer. our host at Vino Travels, shares Ligurian Vermentino and Pesto