A Winery Mistake Causes Red Wine To Flow From Home Faucets In Italian Town

March 9, 2020

For a few hours, red wine flowed from the taps of households in the northern Italian town of Castelvetro.

Photos via Giorgia Mezzacqui

A valve malfunction at the Cantina Settecani winery caused 1,000 liters of ready-to-be-bottled Lambrusco to leak into the water pipes.

The lighthearted news comes during an anxious time for people in northern Italy, where more than 5,000 people have been infected with the Coronavirus.

"At a time where we have very little to smile about, I'm glad we brought some levity to others," Giorgia Mezzacqui, deputy mayor of Castelvetro, told CNN. "Hopefully some day they'll remember us and will want to come visit us."

"I admit that we did not expect so much hilarity and within a few hours the news went beyond our borders, bringing smiles too."

The local government posted on its Facebook page that the leak didn't pose any health risks.

They later shared a video highlighting news coverage of the incident, writing with a laughing emoji: "And how do you prefer it, in the bottle or from the tap?"