- Lambrusco

In the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena, Lambrusco vineyards extend from the slopes of the hills to the line of the Po river, which separates the district from Mantuan territory.
All four of the existing Lambrusco Denominazioni di Origine Controllata are found in that zone.
Although it is of extremely ancient origin, Lambrusco was never well known or appreciated outside its production area until it achieved a remarkable commercial success in the United States in the seventies and eighties.
Despite the fact that it is now widely distributed, there are still many prejudices about the wine. Matters are not made easier by the widespread conviction that there is only one Lambrusco when, in reality, there are many, each different from the other in sensory characteristics and composition, whether in terms of the subvariety used or in those of area of origin.
Lambrusco has an extremely noble background. The wild vine from which the existing variety originated, called labrusca by the Latins, was known to the Etruscans and Romans. And its fossilized remains have been found in soils of the Eocene period.
The Romans made a bitterish beverage from labrusca grapes, which Pliny the Elder recommended for its supposed therapeutic effects. The elder Cato cited the productiveness of the Emilian vines, which he described as “tricentennary” because a single jugerum (about half an acre) yielded 300 amphoras of wine.