Going Red
New Year's Eve is the quintessential night to drink sparkling wine, traditionally champagne. I used to only drink "champagne" once a year because I'd wake up with a headache the next morning. But that's probably because my parents were buying sugar-laden asti spumante for $3.99.
This year I will be going red. Having spent two months in the bread basket of Italy in recent months, I have overdosed on prosciutto, but am now smitten with the red sparkling wine served as an aperitivo along side the ubiquitous, aforementioned cured meat: Lambrusco.
We picked up a couple of bottles of this lambrusco at the behest of my local wine merchant for a pizza party last week. I've already been back for replenishments. I'm a hack when it comes to describing wine, so I'll defer to the specialists on that: "...wild berry aromas and flavors dominate, and it has a juicy mouth feel." I like the way it tingles lightly on my tongue.
As the New York Time's wine critic Eric Asimov muses, "Few things are better on a warm evening than a glass of chilled lambrusco with a plate of Emilian cured meats like mortadella and cotechino, and a chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano..." I'd beg to differ only on one point. Few things are better on any evening.
What will you be drinking this New Year's Eve?
--StellaCadente*
StellaCadente* on December 29, 2009 at 05:11 PM
Here is another nice plug for lambrusco: http://www.chicagofoodies.com/2009/01/the-return-of-lambrusco.html. I thought I would note it here, since many of my friends are chiding me about Riunite at the moment. They don't know what they are missing!
Tracy Schneider on December 31, 2009 at 09:08 AM
StellaCadente*, our friends in Italy are probably celebrating the new year right now with Lambrusco. You're absolutely right, Lambrusco is great for any evening and turns the occasion into a special one!
Yiwu Toys Market on September 11, 2010 at 08:34 AM
They don't know what they are missing!