2020 Prati al Sole “Lambro”, Emilia Romagna, Italy (Alcohol 12%, Residual Sugar 0.06 g/l) Drink Better $37 (750ml bottle)
Ever since I first tasted this ridiculously enjoyable Lambrusco, I’ve been wanting to pen a few words about it.
A few weeks back I had the ever-entertaining Giovanni Segni walk me through the wine, but felt the need to express my own thoughts about this truly electric bottle of Lambrusco as the experience has stuck with me since my very first sip.
I’ve tasted a good few Lambruscos in my time, never more so than my visit to Emilia Romagna around a decade ago when I had the opportunity to taste some of the very best of the region’s sparklings with Chef Massimo Bottura at his famed Osteria Francescana in Modena.
This offering from Prati Al Sole is certainly on the more accessible side of the Lambrusco spectrum, and is an absolute delight to drink, particularly as we move into the dogs days of summer.
A natural fermentation after three days of skin maceration brings a seriously vibrant, bright “glow-in-the-dark” purple hue to the wine that has to be seen in the sunlight to do it justice; it’s really quite beautiful… and just think of all those glorious polyphenols bouncing around in that glass.
On the bouquet the wine’s vinous attributes are simply off the charts; it smells so delectably grape-like it is astonishing, and I’m not talking about Welch’s Grape Juice here, I refer to an aromatic explosion of grapes indigenous to the region, Lambrusco Barghi, Lambrusco Maestri, Lambrusco Grasparossa, and Marzemino.
The lip-smackingly juicy-but-dry palate is no slouch either, with loads of ripe dark berry fruits riding on a of gentle wave of carbonation. Quite how they manage to capture so much of the grapes’ vitality, I just don’t know. It really floored me first time around, and I’ve been musing upon it ever since.
Having been known to occasionally be a little bit of a natural wine sceptic/curmudgeon, I have to admit that when a wine like this (with no added sulphur) hits this many of my organoleptic g-spots, I have to put aside my all of my prejudices and simply bask in the moment.
This is one terrific bottle of wine.
(For and a half out of a possible five apples)
