10 best lambrusco wines: The sparkling red vinos to try right now

Best: Overall

The Cavicchioli family has been cultivating vines in the San Prospero province of Modena (Sorbara DOC) for more than a century, making both lambrusco and prosecco. Made from what is generally considered to be the best lambrusco variety, Sorbara, this has to be considered this simply as a darker hued, sparkling rose, rather than a red wine and you cannot fail to be delighted. And this knocks spots off prosecco rose, launched with great fanfare at the end of last year. Dry, full and intense, with lip smacking bright red fruit flavours of strawberries with touches of red currants and very dry, this is a perfect summer aperitif, which is great on its own or to accompany nuts and fishy canapes or just some grilled fish.

Best: For cured meats

From an estate run by the Rinaldini family near Parma. Very dry, very dark, almost purple in colour, it is rich, unctuous and frothy, this is a serious wine to accompany smoked or cured meats and hard cheeses – ideally an aged parmesan would be the perfect choice since the estate was once used to breed cows for milk for the same cheese – and delivers intense flavours of black cherries and autumnal dried fruits, with just a hint of sweet spice.

Best: For vegans

The Azienda Agricola Castelvetro, lies southeast of Modena and has been owned by the Chiarli family, one of the biggest lambrusco producers, since 1860. This wine is the result of a plan in the early 2000s to create state of the art winery to produce top of the range lambrusco, but drawing the Grasparossa grapes from ancient vineyards planted on alluvial soils. This combination of ancient and modern results in thrilling cherry and forest fruit aromas and flavours, which match a wide variety of foods, but would be great with pizza or pasta dishes, but also simple vegetable antipasti, like artichoke hearts in olive oil.

Best: For a summer special occasion

If you are thinking of splashing out on pink champagne for special celebration this summer, you should consider this gorgeously bottled salmon pink lambrusco, also from the Cavicchioli family, as an alternative: subtle fruit aromas on the nose, summer berry fruits and hints of citrus  on the palate; refreshing and enlivening. A wine that looks and tastes elegant and one to drink on a manicured lawn on a summer afternoon as an aperitif or with canapes. But also simply perfect with strawberries and cream. It’s currently out of stock online but will be replenished very shortly – or you can buy from Jeroboams stores around London.

Best: Value pink

Based in the middle of the Sorbara DoC zone, Paltrinieri is one of the oldest and most interesting producers of artisanal lambrusco. This is very dry and a pale russet pink. Lovely, summer fruit flavours, bright and appealing acidity, clean on the palate. This is the kind of stylishly labelled and designed bottle signalling that this wine is a very long way indeed from the sweet and cheap lambrusco of the past. For your stylish summer picnic, checked tablecloth optional; you don’t need a corkscrew but you must have some olives and ciabatta to nibble on as you sip this.  

Best: For fish dishes

While red lambrusco is ideal with a wide range of savoury and meat based dishes – like all pink sparkling wines, the Sorbara rose versions really come into their own with seafood and this other gem from Paltrinieri, also an elegantly labelled and sophisticated in its approach, is full of refreshingly light, summer fruit flavours tinged with hints of grapefruit and tangerine. So drink with all manner of grilled fish and shellfish, with fish soups and, most appropriately, crab, prawns or lobster. 

Best: Organic buy

This one is from an organic vineyard, south west of Palma, where the grapes are kept cool by breezes from the high Apennines and then processed in a new underground winery that allows gravitational pressing. An intense wine with a firm structure and restrained, almost austere quality, it has notes of tar on the nose and dark berry fruits and bitter chocolate on the palate, but also with bracing acidity. It was perfect with baked feta laced with chilli and oregano and followed by an organic steak.

Best: For pasta

From an organic estate between Palma and Moderna, run by the fifth generation of the same family. This multi-award winning bottle is another deep purple coloured, intensely concentrated wine, with a very clean, refreshing linear mouthfeel; this has the ideal balance between acidity and the tannins necessary to give structure and definition as a food wine. This wine absolutely demands to be drunk with pasta with meat sauces or stuffed pasta like tortellini, filled with mushrooms or pumpkin.  

Best: Value red

This is another great wine from the excellent Azienda Agricola Castelvetro from an estate located in the heart of the Lambrusco di Grasparossa wine-growing region. This represents terrific value for money for a wine that punches above its price point for quality. A bottle that has both low acidity and low level tannins, yielding soft flavours of red and dark berry fruits which make it an ideal summer red to accompany meatier dishes or simple roast chicken on a warm day

Best: Natural wine

This is the future for modern Lambrusco and the very antithesis of the industrial, over sweetened wines of yesteryear. Organic, biodynamic and vegan, this wine is bottled unrefined and unfiltered and made using the methode ancestrale. But don’t let the cloudy appearance put you off, this is a vivacious, approachable bottle, bursting with great, fulsome flavours of blackberries and blackcurrants, but very dry and clean. Again, this is a fantastic wine for cured meats, so sip with a plate of the best prosciutto and salamis.