Photoillustration by Eater
The Lambrusco, prosecco, and pet-nat worthy of a celebration
A wine with bubbles can soothe your troubles, or so the old saying goes. And while Champagne might get the lion’s share of the attention — from pink rosé de saignée to glorious old Champagne houses to indie grower Champagne — the truth is, the vinous wonderland of bubbly delight does not begin or end within the confines of the Champagne region. Indeed, there is an immensely pleasurable world of sparkling wine to explore beyond Champagne’s borders, perfect for drinking right now, headed into the holiday season (or any time the desire for bubbles strikes).
Sparkling wine not from Champagne represents a vast global category, with many styles and expressions. Some are household names, like prosecco and Lambrusco, while others are lesser known. “Sparkling wine that’s not from Champagne has kind of felt like it’s on the bench,” says Ed Paladino, founder of E&R Wines in Portland, Oregon, whose selection of sparkling wines is impressively immense. “These wines are ready to be explored and enjoyed.”
Nearly every wine region on the planet produces sparkling wine, offering a broad swath of styles and substyles with thousands of options to choose from (“A lot of winemakers really love sparkling wine,” says Paladino, which helps explain in part why there’s so much of it). Some sparkling wines are beholden to specific local requirements, while others offer a blank canvas for more primal, rustic expressiveness.
Below, find just a handful of styles to try from different corners of the winemaking universe (I mean this both geographically as well as philosophically), along with recommendations for a few individual bottles within each style that are particularly worth drinking right now. These are the sparkling wines that are ideal for your next holiday hang, and offer the most interesting, delicious expressions of sparkling wine’s many nooks and crannies.
Prosecco — Costadila Bianco Frizzante
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23061756/Bottle_of_Costadila_Bianco_Frizzante_slm_330_2020_Sparkling_Wine_Flatiron_SF.jpg "Bottle of prosecco with a swirl on the label.")
For people who work around wine, prosecco has a dual reputation: It sells well, and it’s often kind of bland, boring, and uninspiring to drink. Because much of it is made bulk, most prosecco lacks much in the way of distinctness or character, and functions as a cheap plug-in for when you want sparkling wine without having to, you know, pay for it or think about it. There’s a moment where this sort of thing is appropriate — you can save me a seat at the bottomless mimosa brunch — but there is also, I assure you, another style of prosecco worth exploring for when you’re looking to drink the really good stuff.
This is the world of prosecco col fondo, or “with the bottom,” a term that refers to prosecco made with fermentation in the bottle, pouring slightly cloudy from the remaining sediment. This style of prosecco has deep roots — some have dated it as far back as the ninth century. Today there are just a few winemakers working in this style, and they’ve been embraced by the wider natural wine movement.
Costadila, a traditional prosecco producer in the Veneto region with a natural wine approach, might be the best of the bunch, and has earned a cult following at natural wine bars and shops over the last decade. Its wines are closer to a blonde Belgian Trappist ale than they are to the prosecco for sale at 7-Eleven, in a very good way. I once drank an enormous bottle of Costadila with a large group at Central Grocery and Deli in New Orleans, where the muffaletta sandwich was invented and there is no corkage fee, and it remains the greatest wine pairing of my life.
Other prosecco col fondo to try:
Bisson Glera Frizzante, $18: This is technically a “declassified prosecco,” and if you want to dive deeper into what that means you can learn more from importer Rosenthal Wine Merchant. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more charming sparkling expression of the glera grape.
Zanotto Di Collina Col Fondo, $23: Extremely cool sparkling glera from a young winemaker working in a spectrum of styles. Like a piece of toast with grilled apples and sheep’s cheese, there is a simultaneous harmony of creamy, sweet, and toasty notes.
Lambrusco — Cantina Paltrinieri “Radice”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23061759/36108.jpg "Bottle of pink Radice Lambrusco.")
Sparkling, food-friendly red wine from Italy: What’s not to like? But Lambrusco in America actually has some baggage, thanks to a glut of too-sweet stuff that became a sort of wine cooler alternative in the 1970s. One brand in particular, Riunite, was the late 20th century’s equivalent of Yellow Tail Shiraz, massively imported by the millions of bottles and heavily marketed to American drinkers.
Lambrusco — which refers to both a region within the Italian province of Emilia-Romagna, as well as a family of grapes — has enjoyed something of a quality focused revival over the last decade or so, and Cantina Paltrinieri is one of the really great names to know from the region. All of its wines are stellar, but I especially like the Radice bottling, which is made using the Lambrusco di Sorbara grape, looks like pink salmonberry, and tastes like drinking grapefruit LaCroix with a mouthful of Fruit Stripe gum. This wine is made in a style called “rifermentato in bottiglia” — meaning the bubbles occur naturally inside the bottle itself.
This sparkling wine style has many different names around the world, but it’s worth seeking out when you’re drinking Lambrusco because it’s different from the more common charmat method, where secondary fermentation takes place inside pressurized fermentation tanks. One style is not necessarily better than the other, and some winemakers (including Cantina Paltrinieri) actually use both styles across their range of bottles. You’ll sometimes hear the “rifermentato in bottiglia” called a “pre-1950s”-style Lambrusco, which I think is helpful for differentiating today’s Lambrusco from the grocery store stuff I was shoplifting back in the late ’90s.
Other Lambruscos to try:
Paltrinieri “Solco,” $15: This is Cantina Paltrinieri’s least expensive bottling, made using the tank-fermented method. It’s blood-red, wonderfully mineral, and could be paired with a spicy pepperoni pizza.
Camillo Donati Lambrusco dell’Emilia, $21: I am passionately in love with everything from Camillo Donati, a traditionalist third-generation winemaker in the hills outside of Parma. Camillo Donati produces a broad range of bottles, all of them delicious and intriguing, some of which are not legally allowed to be called Lambrusco due to the use of grapes that fall outside of Italy’s strict DOC regulations. I have an “if you see it, you must buy it” policy regarding Camillo Donati wines and so should you.
Ferretti Vini Lambrusco “Caveriol Ros,” $25: Ferretti is another wonderful name to know for quality Lambrusco bottlings in the traditional style. This particular bottling is a melange of Emilia grapes, and tastes “like talking to someone with cinnamon breath,” per E&R Wines. The pleasure-to-price ratio offered by Lambrusco of this caliber is unmatched.