Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2011 - (Page 56)

wine ItalIan fIzz Lam br usco is bac k fr om the coL d, s ays Law rence o s bo rn e WINE COUNTRY Above: In EmiliaRomagna, Lambrusco is an ideal companion for the rich local food and the long summer nights. 56 w w w. r i t z c a r lt o n . c o m LOOK Die BiLDagentur Der FOtOgraFen gmBH / aLamy I In the last five years, the once-derided Lambrusco has returned to the tables of serious wine drinkers in unexpected ways. Let us not forget that, a mere quarter-century ago, the best-selling wine in the United States was an effervescent red from Castello Banfi called Riunite. Riunite was, basically, alcoholic soda pop. However, it was a marketing coup for what was then a quite small operation. Riunite was sold as a “Lambrusco,” and at least it made millions of Americans suffering from hangovers vaguely aware that there was an Italian wine of that name that could be red, cold and fizzy all at once. Reputations are curious things, and once tarnished, they rarely resurrect. But now Lambrusco, the syrupy spritzer of our youth, has become a dry, elegant dinner wine of our middle age. The name itself refers to both a red grape and the winemaking region which comprises four zones in Emilia-Romagna and one in Lombardy, mostly along the flat Po Valley. The Lambrusco grape was cultivated by the Etruscans, and the wine was prized by the Romans, who marveled at its productivity. Cato the Elder claimed that two-thirds of an acre of Lambrusco grapes could fill 300 amphoras (one can only assume that Banfi made the same calculation). Thus, sparkling red has been an Italian staple for a long time. Visitors to Italy in the 18th century, for example, invariably remarked that most of the red wine there was fizzy, not still. But as with champagne, Lambrusco’s more supple qualities are easy to commercialize in a facile way. Lambruscos are not supposed to go up your nose and coat your tongue with sugar; they are supposed to cut cleanly through heavy Emilian food like grilled mortadella. They are supposed to enliven, not engorge. As importers became shrewder, and drinkers more particular, the fortunes of Lambrusco were bound to change. The first limited-production DOC Lambrusco appeared in the U.S. in 1995. By the summer of 2007, New York Times critic Eric Asimov was able to make the Lambrusco renaissance official by declaring that “real Lambrusco has as much to do with the candied industrial stuff as assembly-line Beaujolais nouveau resembles good cru Morgon.” And since then, perhaps the most notable producer of Lambrusco to carve a reputation for herself in the United States has been the young Alicia Lini of Modena. Last year I had lunch with Lini in Rome at the Enoteca Roscioli on Via dei Giubbonari. It was during an international football game with England, and the Rome municipality had closed all city bars for the day. Illegally, we were locked into a basement tasting room with several bottles. We drank six of her wines, including the sparkling red and white, a rosé and the metodo classico. http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2011

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2011
Table of Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love with … Hawaii
On the Boulevards
Design
Shopping In New York City
Jewelry
Watches
Wine
Wellness
Sports
Portugal
Moscow
Fashion
Culinary
The Guide
Heritage

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2011

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