Lambrusco, an Italian wine from the Emilia-Romagna region, is a lovely summer wine. While wine connoisseurs often snub Lambrusco, it has regained a small popularity in recent years (check out this article). Personally, I enjoy its soft berry sweetness and slight effervescence. Served with a few ice cubes, Lambrusco is perfect for blistering hot Texas cookouts.

Translating Lambrusco into a gelatin mold involved adding water, a little sugar, and bloomed gelatin to 3-cups of wine. In addition to using the grape mold seen above, I flaked the gelatin and added blackberries and mandarin oranges (see picture right). “Flaking” involves breaking the gelatin into tiny pieces with a ricer, colander, or fork. My attempt of flaking was not very successful – as you can see the gelatin turned into mush – but the Lambrusco tasted great with the blackberries and mandarin oranges!