People living in a small village near Modena, got a surprise on Wednesday when they turned on their kitchen taps and got wine instead of water.

Not a miracle, but a fault at a nearby winery meant wine had accidentally been pumped into the local water supply, technicians later discovered.
Residents said the smell of the pink liquid coming out of their taps was unmistakably that of the locally-produced Lambrusco Grasparossa.

The wine ended up being piped into homes in the Castelvetro area of Modena from the nearby Settecani winery after a “technical fault” in one of the winery’s silos meant wine was leaking into its water pipes.
As the wine reportedly had a higher pressure than the water in the pipes, it began to run through the system and into nearby homes.

The local water board quickly sent technicians to put things back to normal – but not before residents “bottled as much of the precious liquid as they could, to enjoy later at lunch or dinner along with other typical Modenese specialties.”

The local council issued an apology for the incident, and while some village residents voiced concern about the safety of their water supply, other complaints were directed at the council and local water company for fixing the problem.