This week we thought we’d do a post about one of Lambrusco’s most traditional and unquestionably canonical pairings: salumi, the Italian word for charcuterie.

Salumi are produced in every one of Italy’s 20 regions.

But there is no region more closely associated with salumi than Emilia.

And there’s also no place in Italy where salumi are so central to the cuisine.

That’s partly owed to the fact that salumi in Emilia are considered one of the greatest expressions of Emilian terroir.

That’s a slice of culatello above, the air-dried salume made from the pig’s rump. It can only be cured in Emilia and most experts agree that it’s unique aroma, flavor, and texture is the result of process that relies heavily on Emilia’s unique climatic conditions.

In fact, you can reproduce the process in other parts of the world, as many have. But you can never replicate the aromas, flavors, and textures that you obtain in the spiritual homeland of salumi.

The same holds for prosciutto (made from the pig’s thigh) and other iconic salumi from Emilia.

The canonical pairing for this most canonical of foods?

Canonically, exclusively, and absolutely LAMBRUSCO!