Story: Emilia-Romagna | Wine region

'When you hear talk of the cuisine of Bologna,' wrote Pellegrino Artusi a few hundred years ago, 'make a bow, for it deserves it.' It is a somewhat heavier cuisine - which, if you are looking for an excuse, is perhaps due to the climate, but extremely tasty and healthy; the longevity of the population, with an average age of eighty to ninety years, testifies to this...'.

'Bologna la grassa" - Bologna the fat - they say in Italy, and forsooth, the territory that stretches from Piacenza to Ravenna, via Parma, Modena, Bologna, is something like our neighbor's great Sunday kitchen. Except: Lasagna al Forno, tagliatelle, tortellini among the pasta, then some ham from Parma and zampone from Modena to top it off, you need food artists who leave their calorie charts at home. And it needs wines to such Pantagruelische meals, which dilute the too luxuriant so to speak, for example an Albana di Romagna or a Lambrusco, drinkable, often easily foaming. And that he, as knowledgeable people from the area claim, is to support the digestion in a wonderful way, would certainly be yet another reason to drink an additional glass zut.

The wine horizon of Emilia-Romagna is clearly dominated by the well-known Lambrusco. It is the light, sparkling and more or less sweet red wine originating from the four varieties Sorbara, Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Reggioano and Salamino di Santa Croce. In addition, there is a wide range of Barbera, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, Gutturnio and the famous Albana di Romagna, which was the first DOCG wine in Italy. In addition to the ubiquitous everyday wines of quite variable quality, a number of very high quality DOC wines are also produced on about 15% of the total vineyard area. The wine-growing area of Emilia-Romagna is largely characterized by the heavy yet fertile soils of the Po alluvium. Overall, the growing conditions in the region are very good and offer enough scope for classic production as well as numerous creative approaches - which unfortunately are rarely used and even more rarely marketed. Most of the region's winegrowers are organized in the style of a cooperative, which is why traditional mass production strongly characterizes viticulture in Emilia-Romagna. However, this does not detract from the quality - as numerous established labels prove. - Gerardo

Even though the red grape variety Sangiovese has been cultivated in Emilia-Romagna for centuries, the most important wine of the region is and remains the sparkling Lambrusco in both its sweet and dry variants.

"If you look at the viticulture - and preparation projects that put the vine at the center, it becomes clear: the royal road to quality leads through the terroir and its subtleties. It is on the richness of the terroir that the renaissance of the character of the vineyard is based. - Gambero Rosso