To all those more knowledgeable than I in the sparkling wine field :
Can anyone tell me the difference between the two above? If Prosecco is the drink of choice in making a Venetian spritz with Campari, is it possible to make also with Lambrusco and is there much of a difference in taste?
I have read varied opinions of Lambrusco, i.e. that it is an underrated wine and also that it is somewhat inferior to others of its type. So which is true?
there is nothing in common with Lambrusco and prosecco.
Prosecco is more like Champagne, and Lambrusco is a sparkling red wine, meant to be drunk with all the fatty pork products of the region where it is produced.
Lambrusco is a fun summer wine as it is light! My friend Faith Willinger calls it Italian Coca Cola and serves it on the rocks!
I have found three different types of Lambrusco - red, white and rose. I was under the impression that it was a sparkling wine and, in a pinch, (since I cannot find Prosecco here), I could use the white version in a venetian spritz. Am I wrong? Would it be awful?
Lambrusco is available in amabile (sweet) and secco (dry). I like a good Lambrusco that is secco, especially in the summer as you chill it. It's also light (in alcohol and body).
It goes nicely with aperitivi as Diva mentioned, but it's also good with a pizza, a plate of spaghetti all'olio, aglio e peperoncino, and on picnics. Kyle Phillips wrote about Lambrusco here. As for adding Campari, I don't think that would taste too great, but give it a try and report back!
I was first initiated to Lambrusco when I was a kid and a stand at our local festival sold wine snow-cones! My sister and I used to plunk down our coins for Lambrusco flavored snow cones (no alcohol in them, of course). But how many kids can pronounce Lambrusco much less order it up at ten?!
I have known some who say they are in the know do spritz with sparkling water, white wine and the compari or aperol.....or use a a dry spumonti(sp) instead of the prosecco....
Originally posted by Dorit: Can anyone tell me the difference between the two above? If Prosecco is the drink of choice in making a Venetian spritz with Campari, is it possible to make also with Lambrusco and is there much of a difference in taste?
I have read varied opinions of Lambrusco, i.e. that it is an underrated wine and also that it is somewhat inferior to others of its type. So which is true?
I was just in the car (car??) this weekend with a lovely Venetian woman, who stated in no uncertain terms is a Spritz EVER made with prosecco. It is made with seltzer, white wine, and either Aperol, Sanbitter or Campari, or Select (with a taste somewhere in the middle of the two).
To entertain folks and maybe make a shortcut, you can exchange the seltzer and white wine for Prosecco, but the Venetian lady won't like it if you call it a Spritz. And if you added Lambrusco anywhere in the mix, she'd probably faint dead away.
About Prosecco & Lambrusco, there is nothing grand about either grape, per sè. That's why it worked out so well that they turned the Prosecco into a sparkling wine (NOT to be confused with the champagnoise method and in-bottle fermentation, no, no, no, no). Prosecco is "charmat" or "martinotti" type wine, fermented in large vats that hold in the CO2 until it's bottled. Basta. It's not a "fine" wine, but delightful. Ask anybody who drinks it!
The frizzante Lambrusco and Sabbionella are similar to Prosecco only because they too are spumante. They make great lunch and everyday wines, and is normally available in secco and amabile (too sweet for me).
I think whether a wine is acceptable to someone or not mainly rests on what their expectations of it are. You can't compare Prosecco to champagne, or Lambrusco to Brunello...they are simply two different things. But in the end, good wine is good wine. After that it is a matter of preference.
As to your question, to add fizz to an improvised Spritz, best to grab sparkling water and go from there with whatever else you can scrounge up. Next time you're here look for the purse with the recipe on the back (note the distinction of lemon and orange slices)!
Originally posted by Dorit: I have found three different types of Lambrusco - red, white and rose.
Ehatever they try to sell you as rose and white lambrusco, that is NOT almbrusco at all. Lambrusco is, as Diva says, fun, fizzy and light, but it's a very dark wine. Traditionally the grapes used for labbrusco include grasparossa or scorzanera, which do not add any particular flavor, but add a very dark color to the wine. The result is a deep ruby, ora rahter a granate wine, often with blueish shades. On pouring it, a tall layer of white foam will instantly create and disappear.
"have found three different types of Lambrusco - red, white and rose."
Where are you buying your wine? In the US, many wines labled "Lambrusco" are anything but... check for DOC or at least an Italian import from ER. ---Marlene
Posts: 567 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: 11 May 2004
After all this talk, I just HAD to open a bottle of the frizzante Lambrusco that my brother recently brought home from Bologna and gave to me. It definitely surpassed my expectations! Dark in color, lightly sweet and fruity with a little fizz...perfection! I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to stand the wait until our Italy trip in 2009.
I have generally found that the "lambrusco" found in Canada is considerably sweeter than all that we had in Emilia-Romagna. We LOVED it when we were in Italy, and keep trying to find a decent bottle here especially lovely with a pork roast. Many restaurants really only served Lambrusco (there were others, but they were much, much more expensive!). The server would smile with glee, as we ordered it... as it is meant to go with their food. And it is perfect, with the "fatty" butteriness of it all. Fabulous stuff. But yes, definitely red, and a beautiful soft bubble to it.
OK, I chickened out of trying to serve a spritz with the Lambrusco, what with the replies I have received. So my guests just enjoyed some lovely delicious Italian wines from Puglia and I am going to open this "white Lambrusco" some other time and try it out.
Originally posted by Cyndi Rae: I will definitely have to try it with the peaches and raspberries!
Try it also with strawberries and even with a few "amarene" deboned and cut in two scattered in. The amarene are best from the tree and stain alot as you try to debone them!
Originally posted by Karen: There's an article in the NYTimes today about chilling red wines (Lambrusco included). Good piece about the temperature of red wines in general.
If this article does nothing more than reduce the number of times reds are brought to the table at "room temp," i.e., the temperature of bathwater. If I must pay what one pays for a decent red, then let part of what I pay for be the server's knowledge of what temp I should drink the wine!
I've been drinking white wine soaked in peaches but hadn't thought of trying it with Lambrusco. The raspberries or amarene definitely sound yummy, too.
Back when I lived in Indiana, Lambrusco (sweet) was always my favorite red wine. 
The raspberries or amarene definitely sound yummy, too.