2024 Paltrinieri Radice Lambrusco di Sorbara 750 ml

Paltrinieri’s Radice Lambrusco di Sorbara is one of those wines that reminds you why we do what we do. Delicate and pale pink-orange in the glass, with a fine, lively fizz, it’s as pretty to look at as it is to drink—and it has the track record to match.

Kerin O’Keefe, whose reviews of this wine over the years helped put it on the map, awarded the 2024 Radice 94 points, calling it a “benchmark wine in the denomination” with “great racy tension” and “energy and finesse.” Bone-dry and savory, with pomegranate, cranberry, blood orange, and saline on the palate, it’s everything this wine has always been.

If the word “Lambrusco” still conjures visions of the sweet wine of yesteryear, think again. The 2024 Radice is enticingly dry and vibrant—grapefruit, peach, and ocean breeze on the nose, with a long, energetic finish that keeps you coming back. It’s precisely why Vinous has described modern Sorbara as home to “delicate, elegant expressions,” and why Decanter called wines from the Lambrusco di Sorbara DOP “ethereal” and almost Champagne-like.

Lambrusco is made throughout Emilia-Romagna, and few appellations there command the same respect as Sorbara. Decanter has singled out Paltrinieri as one of the most important producers in the denomination—high praise in a region that’s become one of Europe’s best sources of dry sparkling value over the past decade.

The Paltrinieri family has been at it since 1926. Alberto and Barbara Paltrinieri—fourth-generation stewards of the estate—have built this into one of the most decorated names in Italian sparkling wine, with a consistency that’s earned the devotion of critics and collectors alike.