Until 30 years ago every family made its own wine! The grapes were crushed, put into a vat and left to ferment for a few days before filtering. It was left to rest in barrels and was drunk throughout the year syphoning it directly from the barrel. This was the tradition. In wealthier families, however, at the end of the XVIII century they bagan to produce wine in a different way.
The ripest and most perfumed bunches of grapes were crushed separately and delicately, only half way. Then the liquid was filtered with special cloths covered with jute, the so called tambor… this is confirmed in the XIX century dictionary of Busseto dialect “Daràt Daràt Dasfàt”. The liquid was then left to ferment without the grapeskins until the following spring when it was bottled.
This was the only wine that was bottled, the pick of the crop, the wine for great occasions, frothy with a limpid rosy colour and a wonderful perfume… this was our local spumante wine! But, the question is, who taught us to prepare wine like this? Was it the French? The Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla had been assigned to Maria Luigia, a member of the Habsburg family who had been the second wife of Napoleon. In France they were already masters of the art of obtaining champagne, as indeed they were in the Trentino! There are also people who say that the name comes from an army drum. Who were the first, we’ll probably never know but let’s leave speculation to historians.
Certainly the Tamburen was the sparkling wine of our neck of the woods… another small work of art from our land and yet another product that has been saved from extinction. Those in the know say that the identity of a people is closely bound to its traditions, and we certainly don’t want to lose our traditions, on the contrary!!! The wine is a brilliant blush pink colour with touches of salmon; to the nose it is fine with inviting fruity perfumes of raspberry and caramel, the perlage is velvety and promises freshness and balance.
