Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà

Along the Cinque Terre, five villages along the Ligurian coastline between Levanto and La Spezia, 4,000 hectares of rocky coastline has been carved into terraces that descend steeply into the sea. Grapes and olives have long been grown on these strips of land known as cian. The drystone walls built by farmers over the centuries are mostly abandoned and in ruins now, but a few vines are still tended, with great effort, producing tiny quantities of a noble and ancient sweet wine, Sciacchetrà. The name of this amber nectar is thought to derive from shekar, a Hebrew term for an alcoholic beverage. It is made from Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino grapes, which are left to dry, protected from the sun, for more than 70 days. After this raisining period, the berries become covered by noble mold and the bunches are then destemmed and pressed. Following vinification and aging in steel tanks, wooden barrels or terracotta amphorae, little more than 25 liters of wine will be obtained from a quintal of grapes.
What Gabriele D’Annunzio described as “that proud Sciacchetrà that is pressed in the five vine-rich lands” is a wine with a beautiful golden color with amber highlights. Its intense fragrance has pleasant honey notes and in the mouth it is harmonious, persistent and well-structured, with an almondy finish. The wine is released on the market after a minimum of one year of aging, but can evolve and improve for over a decade.

Season

The grapes are harvested September and the wine is available year-round.