Cantina Settecani, a winery in northern Italy, is still open for business. So much so that they're giving away wine, albeit via a miracle mishap of plumbing. Twenty residents of a village outside Modena were surprised to turn on their faucets and receive not boring old water but a glorious flood of delicious Lambrusco, after a malfunction caused 265 gallons to leak from the winery into the area’s aqueduct.
Though the coronavirus has turned off much of the country's industry, Settecani's commercial manager Fabrizio Amorotti told Unfiltered, “we have reduced the work but the store remains open in compliance with the regulations of the prime minister's decree currently in force. But everything is in progress.” With one hiccup: A valve failure in the washing circuit of the bottling line led to about 112 cases' worth of the local Lambrusco Grasparossa to escape the winery and make its way to the town's water pipes.
Technicians immediately noticed the problem and alerted the municipality authorities and the utility company in charge of the water supply. But it was too late. Pinkish-red streams were spurting out of faucets and, inevitably, on to social media. The response from locals who got temporary in-home wine taps? “Very positive,” said Amorotti. “The inhabitants of the hamlet … were almost sorry that the malfunction was promptly resolved.”
But they made the most of it: Amorotti began receiving calls from people informing him that they'd be bottling their bathtub Lambrusco. The national health agency confirmed there were no sanitary concerns, so … presto! So long as they don't break any D.O.C. labeling laws, which would be the real cause for concern here.
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