Like high-waist pants, lambrusco lends credence to the theory that if you wait long enough, everything will come back into fashion. In lambrusco’s case, the resurgence took about 40 years. Maybe you’re old enough to remember the first big splash. Long before prosecco captured North American hearts, lambrusco was the Italian fizz of choice. It had much to recommend it in the 1960s and 1970s. Namely, it was semi-sweet, gently sparkling and inexpensive. It also boasted a distinction that continues to make it an object of curiosity today: It was red, or at least most of it was.

Poured into a glass, red lambrusco bubbles up with pink foam to resemble a fermenting vat of merlot or malbec grape must. Coincidentally much of that bellbottom-era lambrusco came with a similarly simple, primary-fruit flavour. It was grape soda for grownups. A handful of brands dominated the market. In the United States, the behemoth was Riunite, which appealed to inveterate soda-pop drinkers with the famous slogan: “Riunite on ice, that’s nice.” In Canada, I can recall (though would prefer to forget) a few close and personal encounters with Chiarli Castelvetro.