Soil & Climate

There are no chalk cellars here like those beneath Reims. Lambrusco grows in the Po Valley and on the first hills above it, in the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, on fertile flatland rather than chalk or slate. For a sparkling wine, that's a different starting point: the steady coolness that rock provides elsewhere comes here from the jacketed tank.

The names of the designations of origin reveal where the vines stand. Sorbara is a district of Bomporto, Santa Croce belongs to Carpi, and both lie on the plain. Castelvetro di Modena, by contrast, sits on a slope, and that's where the dark Grasparossa comes from. Traveling from the plain into the hills means moving from the realm of pale, delicate wines into that of dark, powerful ones.

The climate is continental, with hot summers and cold, foggy winters. That poses a question for the sparkling wine: it needs acidity to seem fresh despite the sugar and carbon dioxide. Lambrusco di Sorbara is considered especially acid-driven and pale, Grasparossa dark and powerful. Both traits can be deliberately harnessed in the tank, since the cellar master can monitor each batch individually there.

In the closed tank, the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation builds up, and pressure rises day by day. Anyone wanting to limit it, along with residual sugar, cools the tank to slow the yeast. That's why cooling and tank tightness matter more here than a cool cellar.

How seriously the region takes this is shown by the DOC Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce. According to its production regulations, bottling and treatment of the wines must take place in the province of Modena to protect quality and reputation. Origin, then, doesn't end in the vineyard — it extends all the way into the tank.