Sciacchetrà Wine Tasting at Cantina Buranco
Cantina Buranco is a small family winery perched on the terraced hillside above Manarola, producing some of the most honest expressions of Cinque Terre DOC white and the region's legendary Sciacchetrà passito — a golden, amber-hued dessert wine made from partially dried Bosco and Albarola grapes that is produced in tiny quantities and rarely exported. Tasting it here, overlooking the vines that ma
The Winery and Its Wines
The Buranco estate covers roughly two hectares of dry-stone terraces, all worked by hand because no machine can navigate the near-vertical slopes. The standard Cinque Terre DOC white is bright, saline and citrus-driven — a perfect match for the local anchovies and pesto.
The Sciacchetrà is made in quantities of only a few hundred half-bottles per vintage. Grapes are harvested in October and dried on wooden racks for two to three months before pressing, concentrating the sugars into a wine of extraordinary complexity: apricot, dried fig, honey and a long mineral finish that keeps you reaching for the glass.
The Tasting Experience
Tastings are offered by appointment and run for about an hour in the cantina itself or, weather permitting, on the terrace among the vines. The host walks you through the viticulture — the heroic agriculture of the terraces, the ancient cultivars, the brutal manual harvest — before pouring three or four wines.
The Sciacchetrà tasting is paired with local focaccia, aged pecorino and dried figs, which is not a gimmick but a genuinely instructive pairing that shows how the wine's acidity cuts through fat and its sweetness amplifies the fig's earthiness.
Getting There and Booking
The cantina is a 15-minute walk uphill from Manarola station along Via Rollandi and then Via Buranco — the path is signed and passes through the terraced vineyards, which is half the experience. The walk itself gives you an intimate understanding of why this wine costs what it does.
Book by email or phone at least two days ahead in high season. Tastings typically cost €15–25 per person depending on wines included; a half-bottle of Sciacchetrà to take home runs €25–35 and is worth every cent as a souvenir.
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