Italy's Vinatage Wines

If Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi were wines and not politicians, the first would be Champagne-like Franciacorta and the second the more down to earth Lambrusco. This according to a poll taken by Italian websites Wine News and Vinitaly, Italy's leading wine trade fair.

The websites recently posted the question "which wines are most like the two politicians" and received more than 2,000 replies. According to 57% of the answers, Berlusconi is like Franciacorta because he is "sparkling, exuberant, effervescent and distinctive" also comes from the Lombardy region where "Little France" is located. However some of Berlusconi's detractors observed he is like Franciacorta, because the sparkling wine is trying to be something it is not: Champagne.

Lambrusco was the obvious choice for Prodi,because they both come from Italy's Emilia Romagna region, the red sparkling Lambrusco is often served with the regional cold cut Mortadella, a derogatory nickname given to Prodi. The wine was also chosen because it is a simple and popular wine which everyone likes because it does not pretend to be anything more than what it is.

However, a fair percentage of poll replies were somewhat irreverent toward both politicians, comparing them to corked wine, cheap wine in paper cartons and wine vinegar.