I’ve finally had more time to read the news and look at the devastating pictures of Emilia Romagna. Scary. According to this story published yesterday on the Wine Enthusiast’s website, much of the damage has been to the cheese industry rather than the wine industry although some producers have naturally been impacted severely. Here is a nice blog post with a list of places to donate money should you want to give concrete help. As the days pass by and I am closer to the event, leaving for Italy on Thursday, I am getting more anxious. Not for myself but for the people who have been harmed and for friends in the area.

I looked into which wineries are located right near the epicenter of the earthquake. They seem to be around the towns of Carpi, Finale Emilia and Mirandola. That is an area know for producing Lambrusco and not just any Lambrusco but specifically Lambrusco made from Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce.

In order to make this Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce DOC (denominazione d’origine controllata), a wine must be made with 85% Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce. There are other famed Lambrusco clones that one sees widely including Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grassparossa di Castelvetro and Modena DOC Lambrusco.

Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce comes in a variety of styles: red and rose’ both with a frizzante and a spumante version. There are a few wineries that are known for producing this particular wine including Cantina Santa Croce.

Emilia-Romagna has a number of DOC wines, although few that are very well known. In April I spent a considerable amount of time tasting wines from the Colli Piacentini while staying with friends in Bobbio, a wonderful town in the northern part of the region.

Parma is another city that I love and I have tasted numerous wines from the Colli di Parma DOC, as noted in yesterday’s repost of an article I wrote two years ago about these wines. Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa DOC are wines I know less well while the Colli Bolognesi are favorites from my graduate school year in Bologna. Reno DOC, Bosco Eliseo DOC, Colli d’Imola DOC, Colli di Rimini DOC, Colli di Romagna Centrale DOC are all wines that are seldom seen in the States. I’ve tried some of them during the years I frequented the Lidi Ferraresi with my exes. Yes plural. Both of my long term Italian partners had families in different parts of Romagna. Thus, it is an area that was and remains close to my heart. I hope the earth has stopped shaking although I just read that today they had 30 small earthquakes. I hope that  population has at least some rest and sogni d’oro stanotte.