Lambrusco is infinitely more than sweet, pink wine with soda bubbles, but unfortunately that is also what most people recognize lambrusco as.
Here is an ecological example of the exact opposite; Here, Gavioli has made a dry, mature red Lambrusco that will challenge your prejudices in a good way. Lambrusco comes from Modena in Emilia-Romagna, and the grape used for this wine is none other than Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro. The wine is ‘frizzante’, which in plain Danish means sparkling, but with a slightly lower pressure than you know from champagne and the like. The bubbles are created via the charmat method, where the whole wine is slowly post-fermented in a pressure tank, and the bottles are bottled under pressure, which gives far finer and more persistent bubbles than when carbonation is added.
The color is very dark, almost violet, but this is not a heavy wine. Fresh berry fruit with raspberries, mulberries and elderberries as well as a spicy expression that, together with some tannins, refreshes and sharpens the senses. There is plenty of fruit here and no fatness or fullness. Precision and freshness are key words in this type of wine, which is interesting but informal at the same time.
Do not serve refrigerated – 10-15° seems appropriate.
Many will probably drink the wine as an aperitif, but this is an excellent food wine for, for example, a cold table with fat Italian salami, coppa or bresaola, with vitello tonnato and pasta with ragù bolognese.