With so much snobbery and snootiness to contend with in the wine world, it can sometimes be difficult to remember that, above all else, wine-drinking should be about pleasure and not about point-scoring. Many self-appointed wine experts like to cast aspersions on great sectors of the wine map and it can be easy to join in with the head-shaking and the aspersion-casting, even if we secretly harbour a sneaky predilection for the red wine in question. And, let’s be honest here, how many of us have cast a critical eye over somebody’s contribution to the wine selection at a party, without actually being familiar with the contents of the bottle?
Whilst, of course, some wines are just out and out unpleasant, tarring all wines of a certain type with the same brush can be foolhardy and might mean missing out on some very pleasurable drinking experiences. One unappealing habit among the wine world’s snobbier sectors is the tendency to write off wines once they cease to be fashionable. Wines considered fashionable one year often become passe the next and wine snobs are often guilty of looking down their noses at the self same wines that they raved about just a short time ago.
A wine that has been hit particularly hard by snobbery in the world of wine is Lambrusco. A light, slightly sparkling red, Lambrusco was a hit among fashionable social circles during the 1980s, but once it fell out of fashion it became synonymous with 1980s bad taste and almost a by-word for bad wine.
But while wine snobs may raise an eyebrow at the very notion, a good bottle of Lambrusco (no, it isn’t a contradiction in terms…) can be a very fine thing indeed – particularly as a partner to finger food and nibbles on a warm summer’s day or on a balmy evening.
Think barbequed chicken, cold meats, home made pork pies and sausage rolls, chargrilled vegetables and other such fun, unpretentious and wonderfully moreish summer food and you’ll want to accompany it with a fun, unpretentious and wonderfully moreish red wine. Which is where Lambrusco comes in.
When was the last time you actually drank Lambrusco? Or perhaps its reputation is so unfavourable that you’ve never even felt it to be worth the risk? For the sceptics out there, it may be worth pointing out that, far from being the brainchild of a frothy-headed frequenter of wine bars in the 1980s, Lambrusco has been drunk for centuries.
Enjoyed since Roman times, it has been praised in poetry and prose by such learned souls as Virgil and Pliny, so who are we to dismiss it out of hand?
Fans of bolshy, heady and tannic wines will not flock to the Lambrusco section of the wine aisles, no doubt. It’s also important to note that the wine can be either sweet or dry. So if you’ve tried a bottle of Lambrusco Amabile (sweet) and found it not to your taste, you might want to give Lambrusco Secco (dry) a try. As a good starting point, try a Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, which is produced in Italy’s Modena province and is more tannic than your average Lambrusco.
Whilst Lambrusco has somewhat undeservedly fallen out of fashion, there are other red wines that cannot, quite simply because they were never fashionable to start with. Some red wine-producing regions remain well and truly off the wine radar, with very few people aware of the delights that they can offer.
One such region is the Côte Chalonnaise, a little known and little celebrated sub-region of France’s famed Burgundy wine region. The largest wine producer of the region is Mercurey, which boasts some 30 Premier Cru vineyards - almost all of which produce solely red wines. The sub-region as a whole is one of the least known, on an international scale, of this most celebrated of regions, so if you’re looking to impress other wine enthusiasts with your taste for obscure but excellent wines, you could well be onto a winner here.
If you’re still looking for something from the established wine route, you might want to consider looking at countries that, while little known for their red wine, are in fact producing some very palatable vintages. Israel, for example, produces some excellent Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots which, while not exactly easy to track down at your local supermarket, can often be sourced at stores specialising in Kosher food and wine. Similarly, the Serra Gaucha region of Brazil is increasingly finding fame for its red wine, with Cabernet Sauvignon again a good bet. For reliable and relatively easy to find Brazilian red wine, look for the Miola and Salton labels.
Image by Vincent Luigi Molino.
