For those of you attending Vinitaly this year, we hope to see you at the Lini stand: Hall 3, Stand C6.

Few English-speaking readers beyond southeast Texas and Louisiana will know what boudin is.

Well, they might know European boudin noir, the classic blood sausage found in many countries across the continent and even in Italy.

But unless you’ve spent some time along the Gulf Coast of the southeastern U.S., otherwise known as lagniappe country, you’ve probably never experienced Cajun boudin.

Also known as boudin blanc, it’s a type of sausage made with pork, rice, and spices (here’s a cool video on how boudin is made).

One of the ways that boudin is typically served is as “boudin balls”: The sausage is de-cased, crumbled, formed into balls, and then battered and fried.

It’s a classic dish along the Gulf Coast where our English-language blogger Jeremy lives.

He and his family recently paired homemade boudin balls with Lini Lambrusco Labrusca Rosato.

“It’s a spicy dish,” said Jeremy, “and needs a really fresh wine. It’s also a really fat-laden dish that in many ways mirrors the pork-heavy diet of the Emilians. The acidity and the bright fruit flavors worked great with the heat and the fat. And the wine’s lithe character was a counterpoint to the ‘stick-to-your-ribs’ earthy character of the sausage.”

Could Lambrusco be the ultimate pairing for Cajun cuisine?

Based on this initial experience (the first in our ongoing research), it might just be!