Villa Cialdini Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro 2022

WHY WE LOVE IT
Most people take one look and dismiss the Lambrusco on our shelves as a novelty or gimmick. Wrong. This is a beautiful wine from a serious family estate. This is a deep red/violet colour with an intensely fruity nose of plum and strawberries. The fruits carry onto the palate where a lovely zippy acidity and soft, smooth tannins help carry the juice to a very long, bone dry and pleasing finish. 

ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Villa Cialdini is the main house of the Azienda Agricola Castelvetro, an estate south-east of Modena that has been owned by the Chiarli family since 1860. Brothers Anselmo and Mauro Chiarli, who manage the family company, started the Castelvetro project in 2002. Their idea – ambitious today, let alone in 2002 – was to build a state-of-the-art winery to produce top quality Lambrusco. They spent a year renovating the winery and then, using the property’s old vineyards, began production in 2003.

The estate comprises 70 hectares, of which 52 are vineyards on the undulating alluvial deposits typical of the Padana plain. The main grape variety planted here is Grasparossa, the lower yielding and most concentrated clone of Lambrusco. The resulting Lambrusco is deeply coloured, frothing, dry and structured, while retaining the typical pronounced fruitiness cut by lovely acidity that has made Lambrusco such a mainstay of the restaurants of Modena and Bologna.

PERFECT OCCASION?
A wonderful aperitif at a dinner party, or perfect with an antipasti style starter...

FOOD PAIRING?
Carpaccio with rocket and pomegranate, drizzled in good quality balsamic vinegar.