With my frequent trips home, I’ve had fun exploring new restaurants in San Francisco on my way home from the airport, it’s a completely different city than the one I grew up in!  After seeing a post from Miss Gwyneth about dinner at Cotogna, I was intrigued and added it to my list to try.

I remember my first taste of Lambrusco, 9 years ago as a study abroad student in Florence.  We took a wine tasting class and one of the wines poured was a fizzy red wine, I had never heard of such a thing!  I haven’t had much interaction with it since, often dismissing it for an alcoholic grape juice.

Cotogna was pouring the Pronto Secco Lambrusco by the glass so I decided to give it another try.  This was different than anything I remembered about those early sips of Lambrusco.  The producer, Paola Rinaldini is something of a “darling” of the Lambrusco crowd, producing a classic wine that aims to demystify the stereotype.  

The color was a rich, inky purple.  The nose was slightly spicy.  The palette was medium bodied, fruity and dry with soft bubbles and a slightly bitter finish.  I immediately wanted another sip!  So THIS is what Lambrusco is supposed to be, dry, crisp, refreshing, rich.  A perfect match to the traditional food of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy from where this wine typically comes from, salty Parmigiano-Reggiano, prosciutto di Parma, and dry salumi.  The perfect aperitif wine!