It's been 90 degrees in Seattle all week and it's not going to get cooler anytime soon - a rare occurrence actually - and the last thing I'd usually reach for is a bottle of red wine - until now. Lambrusco - it is a slightly sparkling red wine from Italy that you throw in the fridge to chill and pull it out on a hot summer's night to relax. You can find out more about it on Wikipedia of course.We actually were introduced not to lambrusco, but to what I believe in Rome is called "romanillo" but I can't seem to find exactly what it was. While in Rome this past spring we happened across Ristorante Rust (Via del Teatro Pace, 34-37 near Piazza Navona) and loved their Penne alla Rust (as usual always order the dish named for the restaurant) so we went back a second time before we left. The host recognized us and gave us that extra attention so when we didn't know what wine to drink but were sick of white wines to stay cool he pulled out this lambrusco style red wine and we were hooked.
After returning to Seattle I did my Internet research and found that lambrusco was the closest match. Lucky for me, my husband happened to be at Trader Joe's scouring the wine aisle and found a very affordable bottle to try. It's light, a little sweet and very refreshing. There are other brands of lambrusco out there and I'm looking forward to trying a glass in the near future.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteLet me share with you a very simple way how anyone can judge the quality of a lambrusco he/she's drinking:
ReplyDeleteThe more berry flavors, the better: blueberry, raspberry, strawberry.
If your lambrusco has none of these, or only one or has the taste of bubblegum and/or banana your lambrusco is of a "lesser quality".
BTW, real lambrusco is red as in red wine!