Liguria in wine

This mountainous crescent of coastline, the Riviera, runs from the French border to Tuscany.

At the western end, around the town of Dolceacqua (pictured) growers cultivate Rossese. This black grape, called Tibouren in France, requires well-drained, steep hillsides and delivers its lightest, freshest examples on the higher slopes above the town.

Pigato, a biotype of Vermentino, is grown the length of the region, and demonstrates citrus and tropical fruit flavours. The best, most typical versions, such as the one made by Terre Bianche under the Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC appellation, are distinctly dry and saline – yes, salty – and this sets them apart from the richer, warmer style of Vermentinos of Sardinia.

UK customers can buy the Terre Bianche wines from Cuculo. The Riviera di Ponente DOC Pigato is here and the Rossese di Dolceacqua DOC is here.

MTW rents the Terre Bianche residence for our small group accompanied trips. Enquire for details.

At the eastern end of the region the impossibly steep terracing of the Cinque Terre National Park UNESCO world heritage site give us some of the world’s most photogenic vineyards. The wines here are made with Bosco and Albarola grapes. The vines on the very lowest slopes, right down by the sea, are used to make an ultra-rare dessert wine named Sciacchetrà.

To the east, the Colli di Luni DOC is one of Italy’s few inter-regional appellations, sharing its footprint with Tuscany. Vermentino is grown here, along with other regional grapes such as Albarola and Vermentino Nero. The best value comes from more expensive bottlings of higher altitude vineyards, where cooling breezes from the Apuan Alps behind haven’t yet been neutralised by warming maritime winds.

Beyond the list of grapes and wines, this region revels in the history of the maritime republic of Genova. La Superba, as Petrarch named her, controlled the hinterland through Gavi and into the Langhe area of Barolo and Barbaresco. This history is explored in the MTW small group Barolo and the Maritime trip, which you can book today for travel in 2025. The modern-day success of these famous wines owes much to the coastal access which they enjoyed in the nineteenth century.

It is also believed that the Tuscan white grape, Vernaccia, takes its name from the coastal town of Vernazza (pictured), one of the five towns of the abovementioned Cinque Terre.

In the early days of the Republic this grape, known at the time as Vernacce, was the most widely traded, reaching markets from Nice to Rome by way of the shipping routes under Genova’s protection.