Ciao Berserkers,
Two nights ago my ITB friend came over for dinner. We had fettucine Alfredo for an appetizer, then roast chicken and mustard greens for the main course.
To start I opened a just purchased Lambrusco, the 2010 Francesco Vizelli, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, “Rive dei Ciliegi”, $16 at Moore Brothers, Wilmington, DE. To the best of my Google search abilities, “Rive dei Ciliegi” appears to mean “bank of cherries”, or “riverbank of cherries”. It is a “sparkling wine” according to the back label, and comes with a cork and cage like a Spumante or Champagne would. In reality it is more towards a “frizzante” in terms of bubbles, or maybe in between a full Spumante and a frizzante, which is neither here nor there anyway as the wine is fabulous wherever it falls on the bubbles scale. The color of the wine is a deep black/purple, and the fizz has the most amazing violet color. The nose is an oh so fresh and pure blackberry/ black cherry, and it is bone dry, sharp as a tack, and has the same fruits on the palate. It is just plain delicious, and I broke out some Genoa salami to go with it. Oh yeah! If you have never had a real Lambrusco, this is it friends. No wonder the people in Modena are so happy. Grade: easy A.
We followed this with a gorgeous wine from the Languedoc, the 2010 Magellan, “Le Fruit Defendu”, Vin de Pays D’Oc, the “Forbidden Fruit”, 90% Cinsault from 40 year old vines, with the balance Grenache. Deep red color, big fruity nose of black cherries and lots of spice, fresh and delicious, no sign of oak, and an earthiness on the finish that reminded me of a Southern Rhone. Beautiful with the roast chicken. Amazing value for $13. Grade: A-.
Ciao, dc.