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
Available year-round
Back to the archive >Keeping viticulture alive here means preserving the landscape, encouraging young people to stay and guaranteeing a future for those who choose to dedicate their lives to working the land. To do this requires producing Sciacchetrà of the highest quality that can command a profitable price on the market, in compensation for the tiny quantities produced. The Presidium protects the entirely manual work carried out throughout the year: pruning, tying, leaf thinning, wall repairs, harvesting and mulching are all done by hand, making production costs six times higher than average.
Production area
Cinque Terre, La Spezia province, Liguria region
Agriturismo Buranco
Via Buranco, 72
Monterosso al Mare (Sp)
Tel. +39 379 1237983
info@buranco.it
www.burancocinqueterre.it
Arrigoni
Via Sarzana, 224
La Spezia
Tel.+39 0187 504060
sara.arrigoni@awf2000.com
www.awf2000.com
Cantina Crovara
Via dei Molini, 26
Frazione Manarola
Riomaggiore (Sp)
Tel. +39 349 7514446
alecrovara@libero.it
www.cantinacrovara.it
Cantine Litàn
Via Giacomo Matteotti, 32 F
Riomaggiore (Sp)
Tel. +39 340 7655840
litanfc@libero.it
www.litan.it
Possa
Via Signorini, 91
Riomaggiore (Sp)
Tel. +39 348 3162470
info@possa.it
www.possa.it
Samuele Heydi Bonanini
Tel. +39 348 3162470
info@possa.it
Slow Food Presidium Coordinator
Maurizio Stagnitto
Tel. 338 4452215
mauri62doc@gmail.com