We’re toasting the new year with a new beverage: Tomato Wheels Lambrusco. Fresh on Calgary liquor store shelves as of the fall, the Italian sparkling red wine is the brainchild of Edmonton-based Indigenous entrepreneur Moirae Choquette. On a trip to Italy in 2015, Choquette discovered the pleasures of a chilled glass of Lambrusco, and, upon returning home, realized it wasn’t widely known here in Alberta. So, in 2021, with the help of Calgary sommelier Brad Royale, Choquette found a fourth-generation vineyard in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, to produce Tomato Wheels, a natural, skin contact, low-ABV Lambrusco that, according to the tasting notes, is “bursting with notes of violet, cold blueberries, lavender and crème fraîche, with cheek gushing acidity and a little rip of tannin.” Maybe next year, Dry January.
Tomato Wheels is available at liquor stores across the city; find a retailer at tomatowheels.com.