The Magic of Facebook...

I had dinner last night with a friend I hadn't seen in 25 years! How much fun is that? We've hardly changed...okay, a little older and both our memories aren't great, but we pieced together the past pretty well.

We had dinner at Osteria Coppa in San Mateo. Very good food and a great wine list! I like any Italian restaurant that has Lambrusco! What is Lambrusco? I will tell you...



Lambrusco is the name of both a red wine grape and an Italian wine made principally from the grape. The grapes and the wine originate from four zones in Emilia-Romagna and one in Lombardy, principally around the central provinces of Modena, Parma, Reggio nell'Emilia, and Mantua. The grape has a long winemaking history with archaeological evidence indicating that the Etruscans cultivated the vine.[1] In Roman times, the Lambrusco was highly valued for its productivity and high yields with Cato the Elder stating that produce of two thirds of an acre could make enough wine to fill 300 amphoras.

The most highly rated of its wines are the frothy, frizzante (slightly sparkling) red wines that are designed to be drunk young from one of the five Lambrusco denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) regions: Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, Lambrusco Reggiano, and Lambrusco Mantovano. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Lambrusco was the biggest selling import wine in the United States.[3] During that time the wine was also produced in a white and rosé style made by limiting the skin contact with the must.

NOM!