Sciacchetrà Wine from Cinque Terre, Italy

Well, I have been really bad about blogging the past few months. At this point "few" would be an understatement since I haven't written anything since early October! Since I was talking to an American friend about wine from the Cinque Terre the other day, I figured it was a good topic to write about.
Sciacchetrà, possibly the only decent wine from Liguria, is a passito wine. Passito wines have a higher sugar concentration because the grapes are laid out to partially dry. This process eliminates much of the grape's water and concentrates its sugar and flavor components. According to numerous websites, it is a "rare white wine. The thing that I find strange is that it is not quite as "rare" as it should be given the amount of land that is actually cultivated in the Cinque Terre. It is amazing that they are able to terrace the steep land that extends to the sea, but it seems like the wine supply far exceeds the amount possibly produced.

Tags: Cinque Terre, wine, vino, Sciacchetra', terraced vineyards, Italian cities, passito, Vernazza, Italian wines