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Exploring Bologna and the Land of Lambrusco

 

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I am semi-recently unemployed and poor. One of my cost-saving methods (aside from no longer buying wine like it’s going out of style) is to cease traveling, which is depressing. Especially since quick and easy access to Europe is a good third of the reason I put up with living in Istanbul. Nowadays though, my travel takes place mostly in memory.

This time last year, I enjoyed a few days in Modena and Bologna. If only I could be there now! 

Bologna

After arriving in Bologna, I did a quick little walk around the center to orient myself before heading off to complete my first mission: eating as much prosciutto as I possibly could! QED! Once sated, I began exploring the city. Well, the center of it at least. Lord forbid I stray too far from a glass of wine or a plate of prosciutto! And how better to orient oneself than a wine walking tour? The archaeology museum, handily located dead-center in the center, and the history of music museum provided a bit of culture before I jumped back into wine with a fun wine tasting game tour. 

I know a lot of people get churched out when they travel in Europe. Maybe because, living in Turkey, churches are more of a novelty, I am never one of those people. I particularly love exploring churches in Italy. Even one of my non Catholic friends once grudgingly admitted that ‘you [Catholics] do know how to decorate a church’. Ha, we surely do! One of the best things I did on this trip was to take the tour to the Sanctuary of S. Luca. A little outside the city center, one can walk to reach it. But why when one can ride a cute little train instead and thereby also avoid the climb? My entire life in Istanbul revolves around avoiding hills and stairs whenever possible and that wasn’t going to change here. 

All the churches, prosciutto, Parmesan, and other wine aside, the real reason I went to Bologna was Lambrusco. I’ve previously written about my love affair with Lambrusco and that I’ll enjoy it in any style I can get! But I was extremely excited to actually go to Emilia Romagna to experience the breadth of styles and flavors this wine offers. 

Lambrusco 

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. 

There are several Lambrusco Something grapes. Most commonly, and the ones that fall within DOC rules, are:

• Grasparossa, considered the fullest-bodied of the three
• Sorbara, the lightest and making what some consider the “classic” Lambrusco
• Salamino, in style fitting somewhere between the other two

Cantine Paltrinieri Radice 

Located in the heart of Sorbara, Cantine Paltrinieri has been producing  Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC wines for four generations now. Currently in the hands of Alberto Paltrinieri and his wife, Barbara Galassi, the winery’s vineyards sit in the historic area of Cristo di Sorbara, a tiny extension of land between the Secchia and Panaro rivers. 

To qualify for the Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC, wine must be made with at least 60% Sorbara. The Cantine Paltrinieri Radice uses 100% Sorbara.  

The wine glowed salmon pink in the glass with fine and persistent bubbles. Lovely aromas of pink grapefruit, wild mountain strawberries, and hedge roses wafted out of the glass. On the palate it was fresh with bright acidity that invited, nay demanded!, repeated sips of a concoction of pomegranate, strawberry, grapefruit, and roses. Pleasingly dry with just 11% abv. 

Cantina Divinja Unico

Coming also from the Sorbara district is the Barbanti family’s Cantina Divinja. The family’s six hectares lay in the Emilian plain’s silty and alluvial soils. Grapes for the Cantina Divinja Unico come specifically from their Sorbara di Bomporto plot, located between Modena and Carpi. I would love to see their vines there. They’re trained in the Sylvoz method, which is something I’ve only ever read about but not seen. 

Developed by the Italian grower Carlo Sylvoz, this systems trains shoots from top to bottom instead of from bottom to top. A high cordon runs along a top wire from which canes grow downward where they’re tied to a second wire below. The system both improves air circulation, reducing chances of disease, while also helping minimize pruning labor for high-yielding and vigorous vines. 

Cantina Divinja calls its Unico label, a Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC, the jewel in the winery’s crown. After fermentation (in an autoclave), the wine rested on its lees for 60-120 days. The wine poured a pale red, a little darker than the Radice’s salmon color, and was in fact, overall a little “darker”. Fruity and floral but darker currants, raspberries, and black raspberries accented by purple flowers like violets. All those lovely aromas translated to the palate which was delightfully dry. Elegant with fine bubbles and bright acidity…this was the Lambrusco I’d read about but was never able to find in America!

Cantina Arceto Migliolungo

Established in the mid-1930s, Cantina Arceto is a cooperative founded by a small group of winemakers. They set up the winery in the basement of the castle in Arceto, a town with an ancient winemaking tradition seated at the foot of the Reggio hills. As much as when it was founded, member today commit to supplying only grapes they produce in the clayey-sandy soils from the hills in Scandiano, Casalgrande, and Albinea.

Cantina Arceto Migliolungo, produced as an Emilia IGT wine, not a DOC, is part of a project started in 2002 intended to safeguard ancient grape varieties. Until the DOC Lambrusco wines which use one of the three Lambrusco varieties mentioned above, the Migliolungo blend includes, unbelievably, more than 40 different ancient, traditional grapes, including 21 (!!) different varieties of Lambrusco!! Included in the blend are grapes like: Lambrusco Oliva, Amabile di Genova, Marzemino, Sgavetta, Corona, Filucca, Uva della Quercia, Termarina Rossa, Uva Tosca, Picol Ross, Scorza Amara, Uva Bisa, Lambrusco Viadanese, and Lambrusco Corbelli. After a soft pressing and 6 days’ maceration, these were fermented in stainless, before heading to the autoclave for secondary ferment.

The color on this! Whoa! Hazy and dark purple, like freshly-pressed mulberry juice in the glass, aromas of balsamic, wild blue fruits, black cherry, and cassis quite literally bubbled out of the glass! Dry on the palate with a mouthful of dark fruit, balsamic, and lashings of black pepper. I wasn’t expecting, but certainly enjoyed the presence of fine tannins gripping my tongue before being washed away by a bright and energetic acidity. Such a different than anything else I’ve previously experienced. I wish I’d bought two bottles!

Love me some Lambrusco!