Cinque Terre Wine in Winter: Sciacchetrà, Tastings and Cellar Visits

The wines: what's in your glass

Cinque Terre DOC (the dry white)

Cinque Terre has been a DOC since 1973. It is a white-wine appellation. The rules (the disciplinare, last revised by ministerial decree in August 2021) require that Bosco, Albarola and/or Vermentino make up at least 80% of the blend, with other local white grapes allowed up to 20%. Bosco is the backbone in most bottles.

Expect a dry, pale-to-golden wine with a salty, sometimes mineral edge. The official description calls it sapido: savoury. Minimum alcohol is 11% (11.5% for the named sub-zones). It is a food wine, made for anchovies and focaccia more than for sipping on its own.

The three sub-zones: Costa de Sera, Costa de Campu, Costa da Posa

All three sub-zones lie within the municipality of Riomaggiore:

• Costa de Sera: the slopes around Riomaggiore
• Costa de Campu: above Manarola, around Groppo
• Costa da Posa: below Volastra, towards Corniglia

They are allowed slightly lower yields and must reach higher minimum alcohol than standard Cinque Terre DOC. At the cooperative shop, each sub-zone bottle costs €19.50, against €18 for the standard 2025 DOC (online shop prices, October 2026).

Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà DOC (the legend)

Sciacchetrà (say sha-keh-TRA) is a sweet passito made from the same white grapes. Here is how it is made under the current disciplinare:

• Drying: after the September–October harvest, the best bunches are partially dried in ventilated rooms until they reach a potential alcohol of at least 19%. Slow Food's Presidium describes drying away from the sun for over 70 days.
• Pressing: the dried grapes cannot be vinified before 1 October of the harvest year. In practice, most producers press in November and December, once drying is complete. That is why winter is Sciacchetrà season.
• Yield: the maximum grape-to-wine yield is just 32%. Slow Food puts real-world output at little more than 25 litres per 100 kg of grapes.
• Ageing: it cannot be sold before 1 October of the year after harvest.
• Riserva: it cannot be released before 1 October of the third year after harvest, and needs a minimum potential alcohol of 20%.

In the glass it runs from golden to deep amber, with honey, dried apricot, candied citrus and a nutty, almond finish. Good examples are sweet without being cloying, thanks to fresh acidity and a salty streak.

Price check (October 2026): the cooperative's own 2021 Sciacchetrà Riserva is €58 in its web shop. Standard 375 ml bottles from the cooperative and from small producers such as Possa and Sassarini sell for prices in the €45–€70 range at Italian retailers. Rare Riservas go far higher: one Forlini Cappellini 2018 Riserva was listed at €159.

Reds, rosés and IGT wines

Because Cinque Terre DOC covers only white wines, local reds and rosés are sold under other labels. Look out for:

• the cooperative's inexpensive "I Muretti" red and white, for everyday drinking
• Possa's rare rosé
• CheO's red IGT from Vernazza
• Walter De Battè's cult wines, some deliberately bottled outside the DOC

Historic local red grapes include Granaccia, Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Vernazza's Gambu Russu.

Colli di Luni DOC: the Vermentino alternative

Just east of La Spezia, straddling the border between Liguria and Tuscany, Colli di Luni DOC is Vermentino country. A varietal Vermentino there must be at least 90% of the grape. The gentler hills mean larger wineries with more regular visiting hours. Cantine Lunae near Castelnuovo Magra is the best-known name and offers tours and tastings. It makes a good plan B on a wet day when the terrace paths are slippery, and our rainy-day Cinque Terre guide has more ideas for those days.

Back in La Spezia, a guided La Spezia food tour (4.6★ from 57 reviews) makes a full meal of Cinque Terre dishes in the city. It has far fewer reviews than the big day trips, so read the recent feedback before you book.

Other experiences you might enjoy

Winter wine trips on this coast centre on Manarola, Riomaggiore, Corniglia and Volastra, where you can book wine tastings of Cinque Terre DOC and Sciacchetrà and vineyard walks on the terraces. La Spezia adds food tours and enoteca tastings, Vernazza and Levanto host pesto cooking classes, and guided Cinque Terre day trips from Florence still reach the villages by coach and train.

The landscape: why every bottle is "heroic"

• Terraces and dry-stone walls (muretti a secco): vines sit on narrow terraces called ciàn, held up by dry-stone walls on slopes of 35–50%, from sea level up to about 600 m. The walls also manage rainwater, which is why abandoned terraces collapse.
• The monorail (trenino a cremagliera): small rack monorails carry grapes, tools and people up the slopes. The disciplinare credits them with reviving local farming after the 1970s.
• Heroic viticulture: CERVIM, the research centre for mountain and steep-slope viticulture set up in Valle d'Aosta in 1987, defines "heroic" vineyards by criteria such as slopes over 30%, altitudes over 500 m, or terracing. The Cinque Terre qualify easily.
• UNESCO and protection: the area has been a World Heritage Site since 1997 (with Portovenere and the islands). The National Park, created in 1999, has protecting the terraces as an explicit goal. In 2025 the "Landscape of Terraces and Viticulture in the Cinque Terre" was added to Italy's National Register of Historic Rural Landscapes. The Slow Food Foundation says some 4,000 hectares of rocky coastline were carved into terraces, though Bonanini puts the historic peak at 3,500 hectares.
• Abandonment and recovery: phylloxera destroyed the vineyards around 1920. Heydi Bonanini of Possa told WineNews in February 2026 that the terraced landscape peaked at 3,500 hectares only 60 years ago, and that 90% of it has since been lost, "some of it forever." Today small growers are rebuilding them. Possa was founded in 2004 to reclaim abandoned terraces. CheO says on its website that since 2004 it has recovered "about 2 hectares of abandoned or semi-abandoned vineyards." The Park credits Walter De Battè with rebuilding more than 300 linear metres of dry-stone walls.

What winter means for wine visitors

• No harvest. Picking ends by about October. If you want to see grapes on the vine, come in September; our guide to the Cinque Terre in autumn covers the harvest weeks.
• Sciacchetrà in the making. From November into December, drying finishes and pressing begins. Mention it when you book: some producers may show you drying racks or freshly pressed must if timing allows. Nothing is guaranteed.
• Pruning. Winter is pruning season, typically from late December into February, so you will see growers working the terraces on dry days.
• Fewer, shorter openings. Walk-in tasting rooms mostly close from November. Cellars that do open usually need a booking, often with a minimum group size, and rain can cancel vineyard walks.

Check before you go: confirm hours by phone or email a few days ahead, and again the day before if bad weather is forecast.

Where to taste in winter

Cantina Cinque Terre (cooperative), Groppo

This is the only walk-in option we can confirm for the winter months. The cooperative winery sits in Località Groppo, between Manarola and Volastra, and is the most reliable choice from November to March. According to its site it brings together 220 member-growers with 46 hectares of vineyards.

Winter shop hours (from the winery's website, checked October 2026):

• November, January, February, March: Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 08:00–18:00; Tuesday and Wednesday 08:00–13:30; closed Sundays and public holidays.
• December follows the April–October schedule: Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:00, plus Sundays and holidays. The site lists the Sunday hours inconsistently, either 10:00–19:00 or 09:00–12:30 and 14:30–19:00.

What's on offer:

• walk-in tastings at the shop counter during opening hours
• cellar tours on weekdays at 11:00
• the "Simposio" tasting room, Friday to Sunday by booking only
• a guided tasting for €30 per person: two Cinque Terre DOC wines plus Sciacchetrà, with local bites (€50 with return transfer from Riomaggiore, Manarola or La Spezia)
• a light-lunch version for €45 (€65 with transfer)
• vineyard walks from €40 and treks from €60 per person, both with a minimum of four people

Getting there: take the ATC bus from Manarola towards Volastra, which stops at "Groppo – Cantina Sociale". The ATC winter timetable runs from 13 September 2026 to 12 June 2027. Our Manarola guide covers the village below.

If you'd prefer a guide to pour and explain, the Manarola wine tasting on GetYourGuide (4.6★ from 116 reviews) is a sommelier-led tasting of the local wines in Manarola, booked for a fixed slot. Check that your date shows in its calendar, because some tasting tours here run only from mid-March to October.

Small producers (by appointment; check winter availability)

• Possa (Riomaggiore): natural-leaning wines from Heydi Bonanini. Three formats: a 60-minute "Classic" tasting in the cellar (3 wines), a 90-minute "Heroic" walk on the terraces (4 wines), and a 75-minute Sciacchetrà Vertical comparing several vintages. Possa says visits depend on availability, weather and season. Book through possa.it.
• CheO (Vernazza): the walk-in tasting room in Torre Bertram is seasonal and closes for the winter. Private tastings, including a Sciacchetrà vertical and a vineyard tour, need a minimum of four people. Ask whether they run in winter and what they cost when you book.
• Cantina Capellini (Volastra): a family estate going back seven generations, with the MuVi wine museum and the "Agrivino" tasting spot in the vineyards. Booking platforms list experiences from about €50–€60. Winter dates are not published, so ask directly.
• Walter De Battè / Prima Terra (Riomaggiore): a tiny cult producer, with visits strictly by prior arrangement.
• Buranco (Monterosso): an agriturismo with vineyard, restaurant and tastings. Some listings have shown it as temporarily closed, so check winter opening before you go.
• Sassarini (Monterosso) and Forlini Cappellini (Manarola) are respected names for Sciacchetrà. We could not confirm their public visiting arrangements, so buy their bottles in enoteche instead.

For a guided Cinque Terre tour from La Spezia that includes Sciacchetrà, the La Spezia guided Cinque Terre tour with Sciacchetrà has a 5.0★ rating from only 21 reviews, so read the recent feedback and check its winter dates before booking.

Village wine bars and La Spezia enoteche

Many village bars shut for part of the winter, and we have not been able to verify specific winter openings. See our guide to what's open and closed in winter and confirm locally.

La Spezia is the safer bet on a winter evening. Enoteca Cinque Sensi (Via Carpenino 35, beside the Teatro Civico) is a central wine bar. Local operators also run short enoteca tastings in the city: one "La Spezia Wine Vibes" listing costs €25 per person and runs every day except Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

Guided wine experiences: what's realistic from November to March

For a walk on the terraces with food, the vineyard trek from Corniglia to Manarola with a food tasting has a 5.0★ rating from just 4 reviews. It is too new to judge on its record, and rain can cancel it, so treat it as a fair-weather option and check its winter dates.

Winter tasting options compared

What to eat with it

• Monterosso anchovies (fried, marinated or salted) with a chilled Cinque Terre DOC: the classic match
• Pesto and trofie, and focaccia: the cooperative's light lunch even includes lasagne al pesto
• Farinata, the chickpea flatbread, is a good bar snack with a glass of white
• Mesciua, La Spezia's winter soup of chickpeas, cannellini beans and farro finished with raw olive oil, is perfect after a cold walk
• Sciacchetrà goes with aged or blue cheeses, pandolce genovese, dry biscuits such as canestrelli, or almond pastries. It also stands on its own as a vino da meditazione (a wine for slow sipping).

To learn the pesto as well as eat it, a pesto-making class in Vernazza with wine and food tasting (4.8★ from 244 reviews) pairs the sauce with local wine.

Winter events to know about

• Manarola Nativity: the 2025–26 edition ran from 7 December 2025 to 18 January 2026. For 2026–27, unofficial sites expect the lighting on 8 December 2026, but the Park had not confirmed it in mid-October. See our Manarola nativity guide.
• New olive oil (olio nuovo): November is pressing season. Liguria's big oil festival, Olioliva, runs 6–8 November 2026, but in Imperia, far to the west. We found no dated Cinque Terre oil event for 2026.
• SciaccheTrail (March): a trail race named after the wine. The tenth edition ran 20–22 March 2026 with 100 km and 47 km courses, plus a guided Sciacchetrà tasting and a prize in memory of the winemaker Alberto Cappellini. Dates for 2027 had not been announced.
• Summer bonus: Liguria da Bere, a regional wine showcase, is usually held in central La Spezia in late June or early July.

Buying and bringing wine home

Where to buy: at the cellar door (the Groppo shop is easiest), at a reputable enoteca in La Spezia, or online. The cooperative ships from its own web shop.

Avoiding fakes: genuine bottles say "Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà – Denominazione di Origine Controllata". The vintage is mandatory on the label, along with the producer and bottler. Bottles under the DOC must be glass and cannot use crown caps. A generic "passito delle Cinque Terre" at a souvenir-stall price is not Sciacchetrà. Some DOC bottles also carry a numbered state band (fascetta), but it is not universal, so rely on the label wording and the producer.

Customs allowances (check your country's rules):

• Within the EU: no fixed limit for personal use, provided the duty was paid in Italy.
• UK (Great Britain): 18 litres of still wine duty-free, plus 9 litres of sparkling or fortified wine or 4 litres of spirits. Go over and you pay on the whole amount.
• US: 1 litre of alcohol duty-free per adult. Above that, CBP charges duty and federal excise tax. There is no federal maximum, but state laws apply.

Shipping vs carrying: for a few bottles, carry them in checked luggage. For a case, use the producer's shipping service. The cooperative warns US buyers that since September 2025 recipients must pay a fixed $20 import fee, or the shipment is returned.

Packing tip: pack inflatable or padded wine sleeves, and put bottles in the middle of your case surrounded by clothes. Our winter packing list has a spot for them.

Sample half-day itinerary: a winter wine afternoon

1. 12:30: take the train to Manarola (see getting around without the ferry). Have a quick lunch of focaccia or anchovies.
2. 13:30: take the ATC bus or a taxi up to Groppo. Avoid Tuesday and Wednesday in November and January to March, when the shop closes at 13:30.
3. 14:00: do a tasting at Cantina Cinque Terre and buy your Sciacchetrà. If you booked Capellini, continue up to Volastra for the view and its wine museum.
4. 16:00: walk or ride back down. Walk only if the paths are dry, and check our winter hiking guide.
5. 16:45: catch sunset over Manarola from the viewpoint path above the harbour.
6. From 8 December (expected): stay for the nativity lights on the hillside, then have dinner in the village or go back to La Spezia.

Want to stay over? Compare hotels and rooms in Manarola or in Riomaggiore, and check winter opening dates before you book. Our guide to where to stay in winter compares the bases. Coming from Tuscany? See our Cinque Terre day trip from Florence or Pisa in winter.

Plan your winter Cinque Terre trip: the full series

1. Is Cinque Terre worth visiting in November?
2. Cinque Terre in winter: what's open and what's closed
3. Hiking the Cinque Terre in November and winter
4. Getting around the Cinque Terre without the ferry
5. Manarola Christmas nativity 2026
6. Where to stay in the Cinque Terre in winter
7. Cinque Terre day trip from Florence or Pisa in winter
8. What to pack for the Cinque Terre in November
9. Rainy day in the Cinque Terre
10. Cinque Terre wine in winter (you are here)

Frequently asked questions

What travellers ask most about Cinque Terre wine and winter tastings.

Before you go

Check before you go: cellar hours, tasting formats and prices change each season, and rain can cancel vineyard walks. Confirm by phone or email a few days ahead and again the day before.

Please drink responsibly. Tastings add up, Sciacchetrà is strong, and terrace paths are steep: take the train or bus, not the car, and never hike after drinking.