From Food& Wine, "Raekwon Launches His Own Brand of Lambrusco" Nov. 30 2018 by Mike Pomranz. Wu-Tang fans in New York have gotten a special sparkler to pop just in time for the holidays: Clan member Raekwon has released his own brand of Lambrusco called Licataa.
Though Lambrusco – an Italian sparkling red wine that is significantly less well-known than its white cousins like Prosecco – might seem like an odd choice, Raekwon said he believes it was a logical next step. “As my career continues to evolve becoming involved in the world of wine, this was something I felt was a perfect fit,” he said at a launch event according to HipHopDX. “What I choose to deliver here is an affordable luxury. Wine gives people a different feeling than ‘the liquor.’ It’s got a grown vibe. But I don’t believe you need to go into debt just to get a bottle of wine — I still want to reach those people who were with me from the jump — but I still want people to get an authentic experience of the high life.”
Raekwon reportedly took a very active role in developing the wine, which retails for $35, traveling to Italy and joining in on tastings to determine the final product. “We went to seek a vineyard and a manufacturer to make, and import, the wine,” Rashida Walter, Raekwon’s business partner and manager, was quoted as saying. “The wine community is elated … because we’ve taken the correct approach. Raekwon sat down with a sommelier to be critiqued and guided.”
To that end, the rapper knows his tasting notes. “It's a velvety, smooth taste that still has a little sparkling feeling to it,” Raekwon told Wine Spectator. “Licataa won't be something that you feel like is a little too dry, or too fruity; [it's] right in the middle.” The name also is true to the wines roots, coming for a Sicilian town that Raekwon says was “where a lot of people that were immigrants to America came from.”