Have you ever had a sparkling red Italian? A wine, I mean, but some of the same criteria fall to men I’ve dated, too: questionable ethics, a lack of concern for the environment, excessive sweetness or bitterness, and the tendency to try to present themselves as the kind of person/product they think you want them to be, only for the truth to come out later when you have a horrible headache and nothing but regret.
When I meet someone new, like when I open a bottle of wine, I’m blissfully ignorant. I assume the best of them. They’re clearly going to be nice and honest and good.
Red wine bubbles! How could that not be wonderful?
Then comes the cloying sugar, bitter aftertaste, astringency that wrinkles your nose and flips your smile to a frown.
Sometimes the main problem is the opposite: Lambruscos can be too dry, like an academic droning on about Machiavelli in a four-hour monologue that should have nothing to do with a first date. They need just a little bit of sweetness, roundness, consideration to make the edges less harsh.
And sometimes the bubbles just fizzle out, like the spark of many a relationship…
But I’m too young to give up (aren’t I?). So I keep trying dry Lambruscos. And this one was surpisingly good. As in, I’d probably settle for it, move in together, think about and then reject children because we (the Lambrusco and I) prefer our freedom and pocket change.
After tasting just 15 or so Lambruscos, I’ve found that, like Prosecco, most under $25 CAD are probably going to be junk. This one was $18.99 USD at Time Market in Tucson, AZ. It takes a lot of physical labour, planning and care to make a good Lambrusco, so if it’s cheap, corners were probably cut, or at least not stepped into by the winemaker.
Here, no corners were cut. For this 2015 Vigneto Saeti, winemaker Luciano Saetti grows organic Salamino grapes, a local strain from Modena, Italy, the home of Lambrusco.
He adds no sulfur and the remaining ~8 grams of residual sugar after the first fermentation kickstart the second fermentation in the bottle. I think that’s Méthode Champegnoise instead of the more traditional Charmat method used for Prosecco, where the second fermentation is forced under pressure in a tank. The Charmat Method is cheaper. Some people say it results in less fine bubbles.
You can see Saetti’s more labour intensive, natural winemaking process here on the American wine importer Louis/Dressner’s site.
Where to Find Lambrusco in Montreal
The 2017 version of this Saetti Lambrusco is available through Bacchus76 in Montreal. To find dry Lambrusco in Montreal, you’re better off going with private import companies than the SAQ. There are a few new options at the provincial liquor stores but I haven’t tried them all.
You can also find another organic Lambrusco from Vinealis, the Lambrusco di Sorbara Rosato. Both are just over $25 CAD a bottle. You’ll need to buy a case, but if you don’t want them all for yourself, your wine geek friends will probably be up for it. Even the married ones.
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