Wine Tastings, Winery Visits and Wine Tours in Lambrusco

Lambrusco wine tasting: wineries to visit around Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma

Lambrusco is made on the plain and in the foothills between Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma, and across the Lombardy border in the province of Mantua. Modena is about half an hour from Bologna by train. This page lists more than 50 wine tastings, winery visits and balsamic vinegar tours. More than 20 wineries take part, and about two experiences in three are in the province of Modena. Four in five last between one and two hours, usually with 3 to 5 wines and often cured meats and cheese. Guests have left more than 80 reviews on Winedering.

Which Lambrusco wineries should you visit?

These five, spread across Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena, account for more than half of the bookings on this page:

• La Bandina, in Langhirano: a walk up through the vineyards to 350 metres, then 4 estate wines and a barrel sample, with Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano and homemade bread.
• Medici Ermete, in Montecchio Emilia: the vineyards, the wine museum and the attic where traditional balsamic vinegar ages, then 3 wines and 3 vinegars.
• Fattoria Moretto, in Castelvetro di Modena: a small family estate; after the vineyard and cellar you taste every wine it makes, with salami and Parmigiano.
• TerraQuilia, in Guiglia: vineyards at 500 to 750 metres and ancestral-method wines with no added must or yeast, from grapes such as Pignoletto, Grasparossa and Malbo Gentile.
• Podere Beghetto, in Gargallo, near Carpi: 5 organic bottle-fermented wines with the winemaker, in summer under a bellussera, a high radial vine canopy more than 50 years old.

Where is Lambrusco from, and what are the main types?

Lambrusco is a family of grapes from Emilia: the three best known give their names to three DOCs in the province of Modena, and others grow towards Reggio Emilia, Parma and Mantua.

• Sorbara, on the plain north of Modena, around Bomporto and San Prospero: the most fragrant, with at least 60% Sorbara and up to 40% Salamino. At Paltrinieri, in Sorbara di Bomporto, after the cellar and the acetaia you taste 4 of its Lambruscos with cured meats, Parmigiano and saba, a cooked grape must.
• Grasparossa di Castelvetro, towards the hills south of Modena: the most tannic, usually dry. In Castelvetro, Cleto Chiarli pours 4 wines at Villa Cialdini, including its Grasparossa Vigneto Cialdini; in September the town holds its grape and Lambrusco Grasparossa festival.
• Salamino di Santa Croce, around Carpi: the grape is named after its salami-shaped bunch.

In the province of Reggio Emilia, home of the Reggiano DOC, Lambrusco can be a blend of several grapes: at Tenuta La Piccola, in Montecchio Emilia, the Nero di Ciò combines Maestri, Salamino, Amabile di Genova and Ancellotta. In the Parma hills, where Lambrusco grows beside Malvasia and Barbera, Monte delle Vigne, in Collecchio, pours 3 wines, still or sparkling, with Salame Felino, Culaccia and 24-month Parmigiano.

Is Lambrusco sweet or dry?

It can be either: secco is dry, amabile semi-sweet and dolce sweet, depending on the sugar left in the wine. The bubbles come from fermentation in a closed vessel: usually a pressurised tank (the Charmat method), sometimes the bottle, by the ancestral method, which leaves the sediment in, or by the classic method, as in Champagne. More than 10 experiences pour a bottle-fermented wine. Cavicchioli, in San Prospero, compares the styles: after a tour with the oenologist, you taste an ancestral Lambrusco, a 100% Sorbara, a classic-method Sorbara and a Grasparossa. Cantina della Volta, in Bomporto, explains the classic method and pours three kinds of Lambrusco.

Can you combine a Lambrusco tasting with balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano?

Yes, in about one experience in three: some 15 include balsamic vinegar or Parmigiano Reggiano in the tasting, and nearly 10 take you through an acetaia, where traditional balsamic ages for at least 12 years. Venturini Baldini, in Quattro Castella, opens its acetaia, which dates from 1670, and pours 3 wines with 3 vinegars. Acetaia Sereni, in Marano sul Panaro, is a vinegar maker, not a winery: you taste 5 balsamic vinegars, from 8-year-old IGP to a traditional DOP aged over 25 years, with 5 small dishes and a Grasparossa.

Can you visit Lambrusco wineries on a day trip from Bologna?

Yes: by car, the Grasparossa hills around Castelvetro are under an hour from Bologna. Without a car, half of the wine tours on this page leave from Bologna with transport: four of them stop at one winery and an acetaia, three also at a Parmigiano dairy; one visits Pignoletto wineries in the Bologna hills, and one no winery. The only tour that takes in two Lambrusco wineries leaves from Florence.