RIUNITE LAMBRUSCO DAUNIA

A couple of weeks ago, BG (former wine seller) mentioned to me that he remembered an Italian wine called Lambrusco that was good in the summer. He said it was not considered a high-quality wine, but that it tasted good. I remenbered drinking Lambrusco years ago, but had not had any or seen it in many years.

I picked up a bottle of Riunite Lambrusco Daunia IGT. I found it very fruity and refreshing! It is an excellent and fun light summer wine. It is actually a sparkling red wine.

I did a little research for this post and found that Lambrusco is a varietal grape from central Italy (Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy) with a long history. It was originally a wild grape (in fact the name "lambrusco" is derived from the latin meaning "wild vines").

Several of the on-line sources I read were somewhat defensive of Lambrusco. They generally point out that Lambrusco is often derided as a low-quality wine (and some are, incluidng some being artificially sweetened), but that Lambrusco has a good reputation in Italy dating back hundreds of years. Some blame Riunite for the bad reputation. While the Lambrusco I tried was Riunite, my research has inspired me to try one of the more highly-rated Lambruscos.