The London Lambrusco tasting

 

Carla Capalbo was the moving spirit behind this excellent event devoted to re-establishing the reputation of one of our favourite wines: Lambrusco. 

Carla had kindly invited us to two similarly lavish tastings previously: Collio at the Savile Club and Pignoletto at 67 Pall Mall. We were no less privileged to have attended 'Lambrusco Goes Large in London' in November last year. 

The InterContinental Hotel, Park Lane was the handsome venue for this 100-wine survey of the many Lambrusco styles and varieties. Although limited to the members of the Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco DOC it is difficult to imagine a better range of wines designed to re-habilitate the reputation of this unjustly maligned family of grapes.

As ever, Ian D'Agata puts the case for this wine persuasively;

'...there are thrilling Lambrusco wines to be had...and not just lip-smacking delicious dry Lambruscos rosso and rosato, but great sweet ones too. Wine snobs will sneer at the latter wines, but I don't see the poblem: if some fetishists prize fruitiness and sweetness in their wines above all else, who am I to argue? And besides, I like those wines too.'

Three long tables were arranged in a horseshoe with Lambrusco Sorbara on the first, Mainly Grasparossa on the second and 'gli altri' on the third.

The very first wine was a white Lambrusco from Lambrusco Sorbara. Sorry to say this was not the best introduction as far as we were concerned. Some years ago we had paid £5 for a Lambrusco tasting at a London winemerchants (now defunct) and were offered only white Lambruschi without any explanation. 

or the man who asked for a red Lambrusco at the white Lambrusco tasting

Strange to say we were the only ones to ask if there were any red wines in the tasting. The reaction was something out of a Bateman cartoon: the man who asked for a red Lambrusco.

When informed somewhat chippily that no, there were to be no red Lambruscos we asked for our fiver back and left. The experience had been quite bizarre because nowhere was it advertised that the tasting was for white wines only.

Our impressions? We preferred Grasparossa to Sorbara in the main, but our predelection was for the others and surprisingly the Amabiles. These were nothing like the sugar-candy Lambruscos still popular in Spain. They were literally 'amiable.'

There was one producer who covered practically the whole range of Lambrusco varieties and styles: Cantine Puianello. So even if they were not all the best in show here is a record of their submissions:

Puianello's 'Rosa Matilde' is made exclusively from Lambrusco Montericco. It was one of our favourites and received 17 points from Julia Harding for Purple Pages. Abv 11%.

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The Primabolla Amabile is made from Lambrusco Salamino (30%), Marani (30%), Maestri (30%) and Ancelotta (10%). Abv 8.5%

L'Incontro Spumante Brut is made from Lambrusco Maestri (45%), Marani (45%), Malbo Gentile (5%) and Ancelotta (5%). Abv 11%.

Grasparossa 100% Abv 11%.

Montericco 100%. Abv 11%.

Primarosa: Salamino (30%), Marani (30%), Maestri (30%) and Ancelotta (10%). Abv 11%.

Scorza Amara: Lambrusco Maestri (50%), Ancelotta (50%). Abv 11%.

Quite a selection from one Cantina.

Other interesting wines included Medici Ermete's 'Unique' made exclusively from the increasingly rare  Lambrusco Marani. D'Agata characterises Marani as refined and not too tannic but it has lost much ground to Lambrusco Maestri which is fruitier and richer. 

Venturini Baldini's Rubino del Cerro was an interesting one. Said to be Michael Schumacher's favourite, it is made from Grasparossa, Salamino and Montericco and weighs in at Abv 11.5%.

Moretto's Semprebon is 100% Grasparossa. (10.5%)

Settecani Grasparossa. (Only 8%)

Caprari - Ca de Medici. Ancelotta and Salamino. Extra Dry. (11%)

Ca de Medici Piazza San Prospero. 'Lambrusco Scuro.' Salamino (90%), Ancelotta (10%). 11%

Gualtieri 'Il Ligabue.' Salamino 100%. (11%)

Lombardini 'Il Campanone.' Salamino (80%) and Sorbara (20%). (11.5%)

Some statistics: of the 100 wines in the show. the following numbers of Lambrusco varieties were made in purezza

Sorbara            28

Grasparossa     34

Salamino          4

Maestri             1

Montericco       2

Marani              1

Blends of from 2 - 4 of the above varieties accounted for 27 wines.

There were also some blends described as "Lambrusco varieties from Modena Province." We would like to have known which these were. the excellent booklet covering the show mentions the following as constuting the Ampelorapuic Base for Modena:

Lambrusco Grasparossa

Lambrusco Salamino

Lambrusco di Sorbara

Lambrusco Marani

Lambrusco Maestri

Lambrusco Montericco

Lambrusco Oliva

Lambrusco a foglia frastegiata

and Ancelotta, Malbo Gentile and Fortana to a maximum of 15%

and for what it is worth, Ian D'Agata mentions Modena in connection with the following Lambruschi

Lambrusco di Salamino

Lambrusco di Foiano

Lambrusco Montericco

Lambrusco Benetti

The mention of Lambrusco a foglia frastegiata surprising as it is genetically different from any Lambrusco and is now called Enantio. It is not even grown in Emilia Romana.

Some facts and factoids:

*The Lambruscos may be the oldest family of [Italian] native grape varieties (D'Agata).

*Lambruscos have nothing to do with Vitis Labrusca.

*In the 17th century there were thought to be as many as 50 varieties of Lambrusco reduced to 23 in 1906 and then to 10 in 1962. Today the number is said to be 8.

*Lambrusco varieties are mainly grown in Emilia Romagna but are also found in Lombardy, Trentino, Veneto, Puglia, Argentina, and Australia.

*Ancelotta makes some appearances in Lambrusco blends which is hardly surprising as it represents 50% of the grapes grown aroud Reggio-Emilia and thanks to its teinturier qualities is permitted in no less than 42 IGT areas. 

*In 'Native Wine Grapes of Italy' published in 2014 there is no mention of a white Lambrusco. Only Red and Rosato. In 'Wine Grapes' there is only oblique references to Lambrusco Montericco being authorised in the blend of white Reggiano Spumante and Lambrusco Marani which 'may comprise up to 100% of Reggiano Bianco Spumante.'

*Lambrusco is made by 17 co-ops, 53 wineries and 5,000 growers  

*There are10,000 ha of Lambrusco vines and an average annual production of 35 million bottles of DOC Lambrusco plus 100 million bottles of IGT Lambrusco, 60% of which is exported.

The vines at the Colombipark, Freiburg-im-Breisgau

 

 

The vines of the Colombipark with the Schloessle (little castle) behind

Spending 3 months in 1964 at Freiburg-im-Breisgau for a Semester in Germanistik at the Albrecht-Luwigs Universitat we must have passed by this extraordinary vineyard right on the road from the Hauptbahnhof to the Muensterplatz scores of times.

The name Colombipark by the way comes from that of a noblewoman, Maria Gertrudis Antonia Clementina Clombi y de Bode (1809–1863). Her father was said to have been the last male descendant of Christopher Columbus. She commissioned the Colombischloessle in whose grounds the park is situated.

The Weinlehrpfad or Wine learning path.

 

After the war the Schloessle became a museum and the park was planted with plane trees and presumably also the vineyard and what is known as a Weinlehrpfad.

No wines worth drinking have ever been made from the grapes varieties in this vineyard. Some of the vines have been used as rootstock. That isn't our area so we don't know if they are still being cultivated for that purpose. 

Nevertheless, please take a look at the following. You will discover the significance of some of these ancestor varieties and who knows, maybe feel a fondness for one or other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okanagan Riesling

The white grape variety (also Inkameep Riesling) originates from the USA. It is a descendant of an American wild vine Vitis Labrusca. According to a second variant, it is said to be an interspecific cross  between Vitis Betlandieri x Vitis Riparia. According to this, thehbrid was crossed in Hungary, where it was allegedly used by Sigmund Teleki (1854-1910) for breeding rootstocks. 

The late-maturing, frost-hardy vine produces white wines with a light muscat flavour. It was named after the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, where half a hectare was recorded in 2016 (Kym Anderson).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oberlin 595

A red hybrid obrained by Christian Oberlin (Alsace). Gamay x Vitis Riparia. American wild grape. Parent of Oberlin Noir which is still cultivated in France and to a lesser degree in Paraguay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FR 540-22

Rootstock highly resistant to Phylloxera. A crossing from Vitis Cinerea.

From seedlings. Helmut Becker (1927-1990) obtained the first completely phylloxera-resistant rootstock "Börner" from Vitis Cinerea. New cultivars with Vitis cinerea genes include Chambourcin, Norton, Frontenac, Johanniter, and L'Acadie Blanc among others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitis Monticola

This wild American vine occurs in the southwestern USA by the Colorado River and in New Mexico and Texas. It prefers sandy or loamy soils and has high resilience against drought or dryness. It has no significance as a wine grape for wine production but is used for its good properties in crossbreeding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitis Labrusca

The most well-known Labrusca variety is Concord from which about three-quarters of all American grape varieties in the eastern USA are derived. Other varieties with at least some Vitis labrusca genes include Baco Blanc, Bolero, Cabernet Cantor, Helios, Isabella, Noah, Norton and many others.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabella

The vine was found in a garden near the (no longer existing) town of Dorchester, South Carolina. According to Bernard Laspeyre, it is said to have travelled from Spain to Charleston, South Carolina. The amateur breeder George Gibbs from Brooklyn (who introduced many grape varieties from Austria and the Habsburg monarchy a few years later, including Zinfandel) passed it on to William Robert Prince from Long Island, the owner of the "Linnean Botanic Garden" nursery, around 1816. He selected the vine and named it "Vitis isabellae" in 1822 in honour of Gibbs' wife Mrs Isabella Gibbs.

It has long been assumed that it is a seedling of a wild vine of the specied Vitis Labrusca. This was also assumed by the German ampelographer Rudolf Goethe (1843-1911, a distant relative of the poet Goethe. However, the US botanist Thomas V. Munson (1843-1913), who in 1909 assumed a cross between Vitis labrusca and an unknown European Vitis Vinifera, doubted this. This was confirmed by DNS analyses carried out in 2016: Isabella originates from a presumably natural cross between Vitis Labrusca and Petit Meslier of all things.

Isabella is found in many areas including the southern states of the former USSR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triomphe d'Alsace

Our 'disaster' grape (see this blog). Very obliging and nice grape juice but we don't advise making wine with it even in blends.

The red grape variety is an interspecific new breed between M.G. 101-14 S.P. (Riparia x Rupestris) x Knipperle. It contains genes from Vitis riparia, Vitis rupestris and Vitis vinifera. The crossing of the hybrids took place in the early 20th century at the Oberlin Institute in Colmar-Elsass by the French breeder Eugène Kuhlmann (1858-1932). The early ripening grape variety vine is resistant to both mildew and Botrytis. It produces dark-colored red wines that exhibit a subtle foxiness. Triomphe is cultivated in England, Denmark, Canada (3 ha), the Netherlands, and in Switzerland (0.2 ha). In 2016, 3 hectares of vineyard area were recorded (Kym Anderson).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seibel 7053

The red grape variety (aka. Chancellor Noir), is an interspecific new breed between Seibel 5163 (Seibel 2510 x Gaillard 2) x Seibel 880 (Couderc 28-112 x Seibel 2003). It contains genes from Vitis labrusca, Vitis lincecumii, Vitis rupestris, and Vitis vinifera. The crossing of the hybrid was carried out by the breeder Albert Seibel (1844-1936). The variety was very popular in France (especially in the Rhône) and covered 40,000 hectares. After the ban on hybrid vines by the EU, the areas were abandoned or cleared. It was (often under Seibel 7053) a crossing partner in the new breeds Bolero, Cabernet Cantor, Chambourcin and Hibernal.  The early ripening vine is resistant to frost but very susceptible to both types of mildew. It produces dark-colored, spicy red wines. The variety is grown in the US states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania on 34 hectares. Smaller stocks also exist in Canada (3 ha) and in Switzerland (0.5 ha). In 2016, a total of 38 hectares of vineyard area were reported.  (Kym Anderson).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitis Riparia Pubescens

Vitis riparia pubescens is a subspecies of Vitis riparia. While the term "pubescens" is often associated with hairy or downy surfaces, it is less used in scientific contexts. Essentially, Vitis riparia is a native North American grapevine known for its cold-hardiness and ability to grow in various soil types

Vitis riparia is the most widely distributed wild grape species in North America, primarily found in the southern Canada, as well as in almost all U.S. states except the southernmost ones.

New cultivars with Vitis riparia genes include Baco Blanc, Baco Noir, Clinton, Frontenac, L'Acadie Blanc, Leon Millot, Marechal Foch and Noah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitis Rupestris

The vine mainly occurs in the temperate, warm areas in the southwest of the United States in treeless prairies. These are primarily the U.S. states of Arkensas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Unlike other wild vines, it is not a climbing plant, has a high light and heat requirement, and grows as a small bush mainly on dry sand, gravel, and rubble soils along mountain rivers, as well as in dried-up riverbeds.

The vine is resistant to both powdery mildew types, heat-tolerant, but sensitive to drought, frost, and calcareous soils. The resistance to the grape phylloxera is excellent, very good against nodules, and good against tubercles. It develops a deep root system. Although the vine does not have a foxy character, it is not used for wine production but mainly for crossbreeding due to its characteristics.

Varieties include Cabernet Cantor, Chambourcin, Chancellor, Couderc Noir, Johanniter, Merzling, Phoenix, Regent, Rinot, Seyval Blanc, Sirius, Triomphe d'Alsace, Vidal and Villard Blanc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kober 125 AA Klon FR 26

125 AA is a rootstock highly tolerant to the root form of phylloxera

This variety results from the crossbreeding of Vitis berlandieri and Vitis riparia derived from Euryale Rességuier.

 

In praise of Plavina

 

This bottle had been languishing in our cupboard since 2020 at least. In our post of 16.05.20 we wrote the following without having tasted this Plavina of course;

Plavina is a 'Dark skinned offspring of Tridibdrag (Zinfandel) producing light reds the length of the Dalmatian coast.' (Wine Grapes,')

We love Ante Sladic's labels.Informative, clear - great graphics.

 

 

Plavina is was so good when we finally opened the bottle that it deserves further information concerning  its origins.

 

 1. It is believed to be a natural crossing of Verdeca with the Tridibrag (Zinfandel) mentioned above.

2. Tridibrag/Zinfandel is also called Primitivo as we know. It is common to both Dalmacia and Puglia but Verdeca is unknown in Dalmacia. 

3. 'Wine Grapes' admits that it is unknown where the crossing took place. Odds are that it was in Puglia due to the existance of both Verdeca and Primitivo there but how come this crossing, Plavina became common in Dalmacia but is unknown in Puglia.

4. One theory is that Verdeca could exist in Dalmacia under a different name. In Greece Verdeca has been identified by Jose Vouillamoz as Lagorthi.

The case is not yet closed but in the meanwhile we should all do our best to seek out and enjoy Plavina. It deserves to be a lot better known.