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As we
swirl the golden wine in our glasses, Susanna, a local
sommelier, tells us that when we taste it we will taste the
Cinque Terre: the sun, the salty air, herbs, and lemons. One
taste confirms that it is the perfect wine for the cuisine of
fish, pesto, and light pasta dishes served here. The sweet
dessert wine was so popular that vessels from Roman times with
their markings have been found in Pompeii, hundreds of miles
down the coast.
The appreciation of this wine begins with the landscape. This
wine is produced from incredibly steep hillsides on rocky
manmade terraces. Locals say there are as many stones in these
walls as the Great Wall of China. A thousand years ago the
settlers here carved manmade terraces into the cliffs and filled
them in with rocky soil. Hundreds of kilometers of these
terraces undulate along the 12 kilometer coast of the Cinque
Terre. Even today most vineyards can only be reached by
footpaths. Traditionally grapes are harvested by hauling baskets
up the steep steps to the road or down to boats in the sea.
There are a few monorails now, “treninos”, that cross some of
the slopes and helps to bring the grapes up to the road. But
having ridden on one last summer we can say that the views were
breathtaking. Now we know why the driver told us to brace our
feet because at times we were nearly vertical. This landscape
makes growing grapes backbreaking work. The dry stones walls
have to be constantly maintained and the vines are grown low to
the ground so pruning is done on the hands and knees. Most
growers have such small pieces of land that they send their
grapes to the local cooperative to be processed. There are only
a few vineyards left that produce wine under their own label.
One worth seeking out is Buranco, from Monterosso. This vineyard
actually produces the only really good red wine of the area. But
since this vineyard has recently been sold the future of this
wine is uncertain.
In recognition of the uniqueness of the Cinque Terre it has been
named a UNESCO World Heritage site and has been designated as a
national park. One of the goals of the park is to restore the
stone walls, maintain the footpaths between the villages and
preserve the unique nature of this place. There is now a small
fee to hike the trails that goes to the park to maintain the
paths. Our favorite path begins from Volastra, above Manarola,
and winds through vineyards and olive groves to Corniglia, the
hilltop village most famous for wine. Many elderly people here
still climb the slopes daily to tend their vineyards and then
bring the harvested grapes into their cantinas in town to be
made into wine. While in Corniglia one day we noticed Mario, who
owns a wine bar there, had purple stained hands and feet. He
explained that he had been stomping grapes in the old way in his
cantina. He led us down the only small street to a small wooden
door and into his cantina perfumed with the grape must. We’d
missed the annual grape stomping by just a week. We would have
proudly sported stained feet and hands just to get in on the
fun.
We’ve tasted wine from some cantinas that was almost
undrinkable. On the other hand, our friend Gianni served wine so
intoxicating that we begged to buy some. He told us that it
wasn’t for selling but only for sharing with friends. One of our
favorite places to taste wine is above Monterosso at Gianni’s
private cantina. He fills bottles of wine from large vats. He
puts out plates of his homemade appetizers with the wine on his
marble slab table. Then he sits down to tell us about restoring
his home from a ruin and nursing along the traditional grape
varieties in his vineyard surrounding the house. His goal is to
keep alive the tradition of wine making here that is unique in
the world. So when you taste the wine you also get a taste of
the people and tradition of the Cinque Terre.
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