The nicest thing about recommending wine to Gen Xers and Gen Yers is that they don’t have ear lids. Tell them that riesling is the world’s greatest white wine grape and they say, “OK, cool; so show me.”
You hand them a glass of well-made Mosel; they go “Wow.”
That doesn’t happen with baby boomers or those called “the silent generation,” people 50 years old and up. By and large, these folk are convinced that all riesling is mawkishly sweet and so they avoid it. I never see so much face scrunching on a boomer than when I say “riesling.”
The happy aspect about this generational divide is that the Ys and Xs are now beginning to run the wine show. More and more of them are becoming today’s wine merchants, wine writers, restaurant sommeliers and wine importers. They bring so much fresh air into the cellar. They love dry sherries, the wines of heretofore unsung Greece and Portugal and, of course, riesling wearing its many coats.
Another wine marks off these same cadres among the generations; that wine is Lambrusco.
Those who grew into wine in the 1970s and 1980s will remember the jingle on the number one Lambrusco then sold (and still selling at the top spot) in the U.S., “Riunite on ice … that’s nice.” They will also remember to “riesling” it.
More face scrunching, for sure. “How can someone take seriously a fizzy, slightly sweet red wine?” the wrinkles seem to say.
Well many someones do. Riunite, to cite that brand alone, has remained for more than 40 years the No. 1 selling Italian red wine in the U.S. Think of that: Many millions of people actually do enjoy a fizzy, slightly sweet red wine. They don’t take it seriously, which I suggest is salutary and the proper perspective anyway.
And the people who excel at making Lambrusco, those living in Emilia-Romagna, are said to live in “the stomach of Italy” because of the region’s fecund array of famous foods such as Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, cured meats and balsamic vinegars.
I submit that Emilians know something about food and, because this is Italy, the wines to accompany it. What wine do they drink with their foods? Much Lambrusco, of course, more than half of it fizzy and slightly sweet.
Drier styles of Lambrusco exist, perhaps as attempts to appeal to a more sophisticated market. On tasting them, however, I almost always get the impression that they’re trying too hard to be something that they shouldn’t.
I am here to extol Lambrusco that is, in fact, fizzy and slightly sweet. When I state “slightly sweet,” emphasis is on “slightly.” Because of moderate tannin and, often, snappy acidity, there is a quintessential Italian finish to these reds that’s just this side of bitter, in the way that a peanut to which some skin still adheres tastes.
I am here also to admit that a slightly sweet wine, red or white, tastes delicious. And to assert that a whisper of sweetness in a wine makes it much more enjoyable with an array of foods that are high in salt, fat, acidity or in sweetness themselves — many of the foods that we and nearly all other humans eat all the time.
There are reasons beyond the standalone nature of the wine that makes Lambrusco appeal to an Emilian with his nub of Parmigiano-Reggiano or slice of cured sausage. The high salt and fat content of these eats is felicitously both complemented by and set off against the slight tannin and bit of sugar in the wine.
You’ll find two general styles of Lambrusco about, taking their names and appellations from their grape varieties: Lambrusco di Sorbara, fruitier, less weighty and alcoholic than Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro. (There are several more Lambrusco grape varieties and they pop up once in a while.)
Recommended
Here are some recommended Lambruscos, listed by price; all are appellation Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Riunite Lambrusco: What’s not to like? Fruity, fresh, off-dry, best chilled, less expensive than many a brew. $5-$7
Barbolini Lambrusco di Grasparossa di Castelvetro: Drier (and frothier) than most, with solid cherry and grape-y flavors; better with food than by itself. $15
2012 Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco di Sorbara, Secco Vecchia Modena: Chilling this well brings out its cherry-like aromas and flavors, and heightens its utility with food. $17
Albinea Canali Lambrusco Ottocentonero: Ebulliently perfumed, almost red flower petal-like; finishes classically bitterish and drier than many Lambruscos; would be delicious with heartier fare; half made of delightfully named salamino grape, so called because the berries resemble little salumi. $17-$20
Albinea Canali Lambrusco FB Metodo Ancestrale: The second fermentation finishes in the bottle, much like a bottle-conditioned microbrew; very light red, like strawberry soda; light and fresh and just off-dry. $18-$20
If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price.
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