RINALDINI

RINALDINI FAMILY

The Rinaldini’s sit at the top of the Lambrusco quality pyramid. They make dry hand-crafted Metodo Classico Lambrusco from an ancient and endangered grape.

Their estate is located halfway between Reggio Emilia and Parma in Emilia-Romagna at the foothills of Matilda de Canossa. It is a small family-run business that is now headed by Paola Rinaldini. She is a dynamic and passionate wine-maker with an exuberant, bubbly and contagious personality. She is also extremely passionate about the quality of her wines, which are some of the best Lambruscos in the world.

The estate was founded in the 1960s when Paola’s father, Rinaldo Rinaldini, a local restaurant owner, decided to try and make the local sparkling Lambrusco wines using the Champenois method of fermenting in the bottle (called “methodo classico” in Italian). The family still practices this technique in special cellars built for the process and they still perform remuage (the turning of the bottles) by hand.

The estate’s signature wine is PJCOL Ross (pronounced “Picoll”). This Lambrusco is named after the ancient endangered Lambrusco grape it is made from. PJCOL Ross was cultivated in the area from time immemorial and it used to be trained into the branches of the local elm trees. As viticulture became more intensive and modernized, PJCOL Ross was replaced because of its extremely low yields, to the point that it almost disappeared. Until one day, Paola’s father Rinaldo discovered a few rows of PJCOL Ross on their newly purchased estate and decided to try and replant the variety. Paola remembers that first winter very well. The fragile young PJCOL Ross was in the nursery and everyone was worried because it was a very cold winter. Paola’s father took all of the heaters from the house and put them in the nursery to keep the PJCOL Ross vines warm. It was a cold winter for Paola, but the PJCOL Ross vines survived, and now the estate has three hectares of un-grafted mature PJCOL Ross vines.

The Rinaldinis are the only producers of PJCOL Ross varietal wines. Once you try it, we are sure you will agree, that this is a special Lambrusco grape and this wine is a special wine.