Lambrusco di Sorbara "Omaggio a Gino Friedmann" — Cantina di Carpi e Sorbara

A pale, sparkling red made entirely from Lambrusco di Sorbara grapes, the Cantina di Carpi e Sorbara "Omaggio a Gino Friedmann" is a bottle-refermented Lambrusco crafted in the traditional style that defined the wine more than a century ago, standing in deliberate contrast to the tank-fermented Lambrusco most drinkers know today.

Cantina di Carpi e Sorbara is a historic cooperative, founded in 1923, with production centered on the towns of Sorbara and Carpi in Emilia-Romagna's Modena province; in 2012 it merged with the Carpi cooperative to form the estate as it exists now. The label honors Gino Friedmann, an early-20th-century agricultural entrepreneur who modernized farming practices in the Modena area and helped pioneer the cooperative winery model at a time when such ventures were fragmented and often unprofitable. The wine is made by soft-pressing the grapes, fermenting in stainless steel, then completing a second fermentation naturally inside the bottle, where it rests on its own lees and is released without disgorgement — an old-school, minimal-intervention method that gives the wine its distinctive texture and cloudier hue.

In the glass it shows a pale, lightly veiled rosé-to-ruby color beneath a soft, persistent mousse. The nose is delicate and fresh, with notes of wild cherry, strawberry, pomegranate and violet mingling with a light yeasty, bread-crust character from lees aging. The palate is bone-dry and vertical, driven by piercing acidity and fine, gentle tannins, with tart red fruit, a touch of citrus, white pepper and an herbaceous, mineral finish that keeps it lively rather than heavy.

It's a wine that rewards curiosity — an authentic, old-style Lambrusco built for the table rather than the trend, equally at home with cured meats and everyday cooking as with a glass poured just to enjoy.