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What is Lambrusco?
Lambrusco is a fruity, sparkling red wine from Italy. It mainly comes from the Emilia-Romagna region, but can also originate from Lombardy, South Tyrol, Piedmont, Apulia, Basilicata or Sicily. It takes its name from the Lambrusco or Lambrusca grape variety family. Protected areas of origin for Lambrusco are - in Emilia-Romagna - Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Reggiano (Reggiano Lambrusco, Reggiano Lambrusco Salamino) and Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce as well as - in Lombardy - Lambrusco Mantovano.
Lambrusco is produced dry or sweet and with varying levels of carbon dioxide as still wine(Tranquillo), semi-sparkling wine(Frizzante) or sparkling wine(Spumante). There are essentially two ways to produce it:
- In the first option - for simple Lambrusco - the red base wine is completely vinified and stored temporarily. For the final product, an appropriate amount of wine is then mixed with grape must concentrate (RCGM) and yeast and fermented again in a pressurised tank, whereby fermentation is stopped at the desired residual sugar content by means of a cold shock.
- In the second variant - for quality Lambrusco - the grape must is cooled to around zero degrees after pressing and stored temporarily at this temperature. For the final product, an appropriate amount of must is then heated and yeast is added to initiate fermentation. When the desired residual sugar content is reached, fermentation is also stopped by means of a cold shock.
The advantage of the second production method is that the Lambrusco is significantly more aromatic with this variant, while the first variant is less expensive. Blending variants are also used to combine the advantages of both methods.