Cinque Terre, a legendary and rugged stretch of Italian Riviera just over the hill from La Spezia, is one of the most visually impressive of Italy's wine districts. Located in the eastern corner of Liguria, overlooking the Ligurian Sea, this is the last section of dramatic coastline before the rolling coastal hills of northern Tuscany. The district's light, refreshing white wines have long refreshed the tourists who flock there each summer to enjoy the scenery. The classic Cinque Terre wine is a dry, aromatic white made of Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino. It is characterized by crisp acidity and a delicate bouquet of hay, citrus and green apples. A salty whiff of minerality sometimes serves as a reminder of the vineyards' coastal situation.
The cinque terre (literally "five lands") cited in the title are five seaside villages that punctuate this section of the Ligurian coast: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Each is dwarfed by cliffs and coastal hills directly behind it, some of which rise sharply to 2500ft (760m).
Many Cinque Terre vineyards are planted on perilously steep slopes, so close to the sea that the ocean spray forms a fine mist over the vines. Others enjoy the luxury and relative security of being located on terraces carved painstakingly into the hard cliff faces. Unsurprisingly, this awkward, inaccessible topography means that vineyard management is done manually, without the aid of tractors or trucks. During vintage, monorail systems are used to haul the harvest up the hillsides. This all requires significant investment of time and resources – costs that are ultimately reflected in the prices of Cinque Terre wines.
Although most wine made here is light and dry, the district also produces sweet Cinque Terre Sciacchetra. This nectar-like wine style dates back many hundreds of years, and received high praise from numerous classical writers and poets. Pliny the Elder described it as "lunar" wine. Presumably this compliment suggested that the wine was "out of this world" rather than implying any connection with the nearby Colli di Luni.
The Cinque Terre zone, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, bears a strong resemblance to the equally impressive Amalfi Coast some 350 miles to the south, where the vineyards of Ravello, Furore and Tramonti gaze southwards across the Tyrrhenian Sea. See Amalfi Coast.
