Notes from the Importer: Fondatore means “founder,” and the name of this wine name bears special significance for Cleto Chiarli. The Lambrusco del Fondatore is a modern version of the same wine Chiarli produced for the customers of his trattoria back in the early 1800s. It is made by the “ancestral” method, by which a still wine was fermented in the fall and left to rest through the winter. It was bottled in the early spring, with no filtration, and once temperatures began to rise, the yeast would continue the fermentation in the closed bottle, creating a fizzy wine. In accordance with the time-honored practices, the wine is not disgorged to remove the sediment. Lambrusco del Fondatore has become the benchmark of the Lambrusco di Sorbara variety.
