Riunite Lambrusco

Riunite Lambrusco is an inexpensive, mass-produced lambrusco product marketed with great success in the United States since the late 1960s. The marketing campaign often promoted drinking the product over ice. The Riunite/Banfi Vinters team claims Riunite Lambrusco was the top wine to the US (by volume) every year from 1976-2002. While not a distinctive wine on its own right, its ubiquity has made Riunite lambrusco somewhat definitive in America. Lambrusco is a class of sparkling wine from several wine regions of Northern Italy primarily made from the grape of the same name. Most lambrusco is red wine on the sweeter side (some is dry), and fruit-forward (berry flavors). Most is intended to be drunk young, and produced with the Charmat process (tank fermented, rather than bottle fermented), making much lambrusco economically priced. Caveat emptor: some inexpensive wines produced in Australia are labeled as “lambrusco”; they are something else entirely.