Lambrusco is a family of red grape varieties from Emilia-Romagna, and the lightly sparkling wine made from them. Most Lambrusco is frizzante, with a soft fizz, and red, though rosato and white versions exist. It ranges from dry to sweet, and from pale red to deep ruby-purple, depending on the grape.
It comes from the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma, and from Mantua in Lombardy. The best-known appellations are Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro and Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, all approved in 1970.
Sorbara: pale
Grasparossa: deep
Grasparossa: rosato
The Lambrusco grapes
The Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco counts 12 native varieties. A 2024 genetic study found they are not all closely related. Four matter most:
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| Grape | What it gives |
|---|---|
| Sorbara | Pale ruby, light wine with medium-high acidity and floral notes of violet and rose. Its flowers are female with sterile pollen, so growers plant Salamino among it to pollinate it. |
| Grasparossa | Deep ruby-purple wine with more tannin than the others. Named for its red stems, it is thought to come from around Castelvetro. |
| Salamino | Named for its long, narrow bunch, which locals compared to a salami. It is now the most planted Lambrusco on the plains of Modena and Reggio Emilia. |
| Maestri | Deep ruby with body and tannin, the main grape of Colli di Parma Lambrusco. |
Ancellotta, a red grape that is not a Lambrusco, is allowed as a blending grape, up to 15% in several DOCs.
The Lambrusco appellations
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| DOC | Rule |
|---|---|
| Lambrusco di Sorbara | At least 60% Sorbara, up to 40% Salamino. Frizzante or spumante, red or rosé, plus a white spumante made from red grapes pressed off their skins. |
| Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro | At least 85% Grasparossa. The Monte Barello subzone requires 100% Grasparossa and at least 90 days on the lees if refermented in bottle. |
| Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce | At least 85% Salamino. |
| Modena (Lambrusco di Modena) | At least 85% of any Lambrusco varieties. |
| Reggiano | At least 85% of the Lambrusco varieties listed in its rules. Allows a still Lambrusco too. |
| Colli di Parma | 85 to 100% Maestri. Still or frizzante. |
| Lambrusco Mantovano (Lombardy) | Mainly Viadanese, Maestri, Marani and Salamino. Frizzante, dry or medium sweet. |
How Lambrusco gets its bubbles
The Modena appellation rules allow two ways to make the wine sparkle, and producers choose:
- In a pressure tank, the Martinotti or Charmat method. Most Lambrusco is made this way.
- In the bottle. The wine finishes fermenting, or ferments a second time, in the bottle it is sold in. Some producers leave the yeast sediment in, so the wine is cloudy, and close it with a crown cap. The rules allow the haze and the crown cap, and the words “rifermentazione in bottiglia” on the label.
Bottle fermentation is the older method. The Sorbara rules record it as the most common way to make sparkling Lambrusco from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, and the result was a cloudy wine that was never disgorged. Natural producers use it again today, and some call it metodo ancestrale, a trade term that does not appear in the appellation rules.
Frizzante and spumante
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| Style | Pressure at 20°C | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Frizzante | 1 to 2.5 bar | Semi-sparkling. Most Lambrusco |
| Spumante | 3 bar or more | Fully sparkling |
| Spumante di qualità | 3.5 bar or more | Quality sparkling wine, VSQ on the label |
These are the EU pressure limits (Regulation 1308/2013, Annex VII).
How sweet Lambrusco is
Lambrusco comes dry, off-dry, medium sweet or sweet, and the words on the label mean different things on a frizzante and on a spumante:
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| Label term | On a frizzante | On a spumante |
|---|---|---|
| Secco | Up to 4 g/L of sugar, or 9 g/L with enough acidity | 17 to 32 g/L |
| Abboccato | Up to 12 g/L, or 18 g/L with enough acidity | 32 to 50 g/L |
| Amabile | Up to 45 g/L | Not used |
| Dolce | 45 g/L or more | Over 50 g/L |
The frizzante terms follow the EU still-wine scale and the spumante terms the sparkling scale (Regulation 2019/33, Annex III). A spumante can also be brut or brut nature. The Sorbara, Grasparossa, Salamino and Modena rules require every frizzante to state its sugar level on the label.
The Riunite years
In 1967 the importer John Mariani met the Riunite cooperative, and the Mariani brothers asked for a sweeter, fizzier Lambrusco for American tastes. Sold with the line “Riunite on ice, that’s nice,” it became the number one imported wine in the US by 1983, when Banfi brought in 11 million cases.
Lambrusco is still one of Italy’s larger wines. The consortium reported more than 35 million bottles of Lambrusco DOC in 2023, plus almost 100 million bottles of Lambrusco Emilia IGT, with 60% exported.
How to serve Lambrusco
- Serve it at 54 to 57°F (12 to 14°C), the temperature the production rules give.
- Pair it with Emilian pork. The Emilia-Romagna region pairs zampone from Modena with Lambrusco Grasparossa and Lambrusco Salamino, and cotechino with the Lambrusco DOCs of Modena.
Common questions about Lambrusco
- What is Lambrusco?
- A family of red grape varieties from Emilia-Romagna, and the lightly sparkling wine made from them, mostly red and frizzante.
- Is Lambrusco sweet?
- It can be dry or sweet. Secco on a frizzante means up to 4 g/L of sugar, or 9 g/L with enough acidity. Amabile and dolce are the sweet styles.
- Is Lambrusco sparkling?
- Most of it is frizzante, semi-sparkling at 1 to 2.5 bar. Spumante versions reach 3 bar or more, and a few appellations allow a still Lambrusco.
- Why is some Lambrusco cloudy?
- It was refermented in the bottle and not disgorged, so the yeast stays in. The appellation rules allow this haze.
- What is the difference between Sorbara and Grasparossa?
- Sorbara makes light, floral Lambrusco with medium-high acidity. Grasparossa makes deep ruby-purple Lambrusco with more tannin.
- What temperature should Lambrusco be served at?
- 54 to 57°F (12 to 14°C), according to the production rules.
Sources
- Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC production rules (2024)
- Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC production rules (2024)
- Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce DOC production rules (2024)
- Modena DOC production rules (2024)
- Reggiano DOC production rules (2024)
- Lambrusco Mantovano DOC production rules
- Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco: grape varieties
- Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco: history
- EU: Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, Annex VII
- EU: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Annex III
- Wine Spectator: Harry Mariani and Riunite
- ANSA: Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco production figures (2024)
- Emilia-Romagna Region: Zampone Modena IGP
Keep reading
The pét-nat guide covers sparkling wine finished in the bottle. The dry wine guide covers the EU sugar scales in full.
Read the pét-nat guide Read the dry wine guide Read the natural wine guide
