As more of my peer group receives their second vaccinations, I am growing increasingly optimistic that even the drunken bacchanalia of the Calgary Stampede will not usher in the dreaded fourth wave of COVID, so the spectre of a lockdown in the dog days of summer seems unlikely.
Thanks to the warm weather right around the summer solstice, I gathered the immunized members of my regular drinking companions to celebrate the 11th annual World Lambrusco Day by drinking one of my favourite Italian wines.
For those not familiar with the varietal, Lambrusco is an ancient Italian grape, first cultivated by the Etruscans around 90 BCE in what now modern-day Tuscany. The grape grew wild over much of the Italian peninsula, and has many offshoots and variants due to natural mutations over the millennia. Today, there are about a dozen distinct grape varietals in the Lambrusco family, all with the same broadly similar characteristics, but each having its own unique personality quirks.
Skillful winemakers understand the strengths of the different Lambrusco varietals, and will often blend several different plantings to achieve a particular flavour profile. The best plantings of a few of the unique varietals have even been granted their own appellations, restricting the winemakers to single varietal bottlings of grapes grown in a controlled geographical area. Sadly, the low yields of these best-of-the-best options rarely make it to Canadian shores, so I have only tasted the fanciest appellations while on vacation in Italy.
Senior boozers may recall a glut of cheap and fizzy Lambrusco flooding the export markets in the 1970s, when consumer preferences tended towards overly sweet wines. Despite its poor reputation in the age of leisure suits, Lambrusco was a prized varietal in ancient times, with the famed philosopher Pliny the Elder waxing poetic on the quality of the wine.
Lambrusco was even the #1 import wine in the USA back in the 1970s, and was a common prize on The Price Is Right game show, with Bob Barker handing out cases to seemingly every winner. The slogan of that era was “Riunite on ice”, referring to a large winemaker’s suggestion to pour the sickly-sweet fizzy wine over ice cubes to enjoy with dinner, leading to its unfortunate nickname of Italian Coca-Cola.
Eager to escape the shameful era of the 1970s, modern winemakers in Italy have been working hard to rehabilitate Lambrusco’s reputation as a sugary plonk, by producing sophisticated dry wines from blends of different Lambrusco varietals.
The development of the Charmat Method in the 1950s was a boon for Lambrusco, as it had long been popular as a sparkling red wine, but the historical Champagne method of secondary fermentation in the bottle led to poor outcomes with the Lambrusco grape. The Charmat Method performs the secondary fermentation in large stainless steel vats, allowing much more precise control over the temperature and pressure, which led to significant improvements in quality.
While the Charmat Method is most commonly used for the white sparkling wines known as Prosecco, the red Lambrusco grape uses the same method for frizzante (slightly effervescent) and spumante (more bubbles).
I like my Lambrusco to be in the frizzante style (slightly effervescent), served from an ice bucket on a sunny patio, making it the perfect red for a hot summer day. Unlike the snootier red wines that insist on being aged for several years before drinking, Lambrusco is unabashedly fresh and fruity, and is best consumed young while the intense floral aromas are on full display.
Expect plenty of violet and orange blossom on the nose, with heaps of blackberry and strawberry on the tongue. Lambrusco pairs well with Italian staples like Reggiano cheese, bread dipped in balsamic vinegar, olives, and grilled vegetables.
I am always on the lookout for our local Canadian winemakers to try their hand at old world grapes, but this far, the Lambrusco grape has not ventured far from its ancestral home of Italy. There are a few small plantings in Australia and Argentina, but anything you find on the shelves at your local bottle shop will be from Italy.
The price is typical for wines that are served young, with Lambrusco generally in the $16-$20 range at your friendly neighbourhood liquor merchant, so pick up a bottle and enjoy it out on the patio on a hot sunny day.
