Match of the week

A full English breakfast with Lambrusco

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on July 22 2025 at 16:58

It’s not often you go somewhere for breakfast and they hand you a comprehensive wine list. Let alone a wine list tempting enough to make you drink at that time of day.

But a full English isn’t far short of a main meal anyway so the opportunity to order a glass of Lambrusco with it - yes, Lambrusco - was too good to resist.

This may come as less of a surprise when you discover the establishment is owned by Heath Ball of the award winning Red Lion and Sun. This is his newly opened pub The Angel in Highgate Village which in addition to offering all day breakfasts has an equally interesting wine list which includes, at the time of writing, three different lambruscos.

Real lambrusco, for those of you who have not come across it, is a dry, semi-sparkling wine from Emilia Romagna in Italy. Mainly red and dry with a taste of bitter cherries.

I ordered the Tenuta Pederzana ‘Spiriti Folleti’ Lambrusco Grasparossa di Casteleviro from the list which was a modest breakfast friendly 11%. It went incredibly well with the meatier elements of the dish including the (absolutely excellent) bacon, sausage and Conakilty black pudding. (I’d discovered on a previous occasion how well lambrusco goes with pork.)

If you fancy giving it a go the Angel is open from 8am though you can’t order alcohol until 10am. Which might be a little early for Lambrusco even for me. (We didn’t eat until 12.30.)

For other thoughts on wine with breakfast see What Wine to Drink with a Scottish (or English) breakfast

And for other Lambrusco matches The best food pairings for Lambrusco

What wines pair best with pork

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