The Italy Wine Project

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Cinque Terre / Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà DOC

IL PROGETTODOCCINQUE TERRE / CINQUE TERRE SCIACCHETRÀAAIT00299027Denominazione di Origine Controllata

No strip issued. I'm still hunting a bottle.

Dry white grown on terraced cliffs above the sea, mostly Bosco with Albarola and Vermentino. The dry wine is lean and saline, with yellow apple, dried herbs, chamomile and a bitter almond finish, built for anchovies and pesto. Sciacchetrà is the prize: air-dried grapes make a small, expensive amber dessert wine with apricot, honey, candied orange and a salty edge that keeps it from feeling heavy. Tiny production and brutal farming keep quantities low and prices high.

Still hunting

I'm still looking for a bottle of this.

If you make Cinque Terre / Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà, import it, or know who does, the form takes two minutes and I reply to every one.

Can you help me get one?

Bottles I'm chasing

  • Cantina Cinque Terre

    Cinque Terre Costa de Sera

    The local cooperative's single-cru bottling, the most reliable US listing for the dry style; saline, herbal, with a bitter almond finish.

    $30 to $40Wine-Searcher

  • Possa

    Cinque Terre Bianco

    Heroic tiny-terrace producer in Riomaggiore; textured, sea-spray white with quince and dried thyme, sporadic US import.

    $40 to $55Wine-Searcher

  • Cantina Cinque Terre

    Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà (375 ml)

    Amber passito with dried apricot, honey and a salty finish; the easiest Sciacchetrà to actually find stateside, sold in half bottles.

    $60 to $90Wine-Searcher