Lambrusco is the frothing violet red of Emilia, a family of grapes more than a single one: Sorbara gives a brut pale as rosé, all sour cherry and rose; Grasparossa comes dark, grippy and purple-foamed. Its purpose is the table it grew up beside — nothing else cuts Emilia's pork-and-cream cuisine, and it is drunk cold, young and often.
In the 1970s and 80s a sweetened export version — "Italian cola" — conquered America by the tanker and wrecked the name; for a generation Lambrusco meant cheap and sugary. The revival was built bottle by bottle: dry, traditionally made wines from the historic zones around Modena, until sommeliers abroad relearned what Emilia had never forgotten.