While we did not spend as much time in the lovely Liguria region, it stands out as a memory of dazzling sights, scenery, and flavors. Home of the famed Italian Riviera, this crescent-shaped province hugs the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Italy, just east of the posh Principality of Monaco.
Liguria is known for its bustling capital, Genoa, its world-famous seaside resorts such as Portofino, and the colorful cliff-hugging towns of Cinqueterre. Moving inward from the spectacular coast are beautiful rolling hills and the breathtaking Maritime Alps. The hills are covered with vines, olive trees, orchards, and other agricultural production, including chestnuts, almonds, citrus, and flowers.
It is here that we met Diego and Debora Bosoni, heirs to a four-generation legacy of winemaking at Ca’Lunae. The name stands for Cantina Lunae – “lunae” being both Latin for moon and the original Roman name of a nearby village.
This winery is a leader in the production of white wines from local grapes. They produce 13 different wines depending on the season. “The first love is maybe Vermentino,” says Debora referring to their light-bodied white wine.
“In this area, Vermentino is fresh, delicate, very fruity, with minerality, very good for fish,” adds Diego.
Marco Stevanoni, who accompanied us for this visit, describes Vermentino: “Vermentino is a local varietal. It spreads into a couple of different regions. But here is its home.” It tastes unique here because of the growing conditions and climate.
Because it sits right on the Mediterranean, Liguria enjoys the warm, sunny climate associated with its more southern neighbors, and the dramatic and steeply-sloped landscape, notably high in limestone, imparts notes of minerality to the wines.
One of the unique charms of Ca’Lunae is its museum, where visitors can see old tools from earlier wine production on display, along with photos and even traditional clothing. The family wants to communicate the culture of the area – a culture of cultivating the land and producing wines.
The tools are beautifully restored and include some grape mashers and presses. Producing wine was a job for the whole family, and some of the tools are even designed for children to use. “Mainly all the family produced some wine,” Debora explained. In the past, wine was considered a food, and a fundamental part of everyone’s diet. It was essential for every family to produce wine for their own needs.
A 50-liter container was traditionally considered a year’s supply for a family. It was a lot of work, but, “It’s a very big process, but it’s important for all the local people, for our fathers, because they needed it. They needed to work every day in the vineyards.”
But Ca’Lunae is not just about Liguria’s storied past. These days, Ca’Lunae is a bustling place, filled with shops featuring local cured meats, canned items, oils, and produce. There is a charming tasting room housed in a 17th-century building where guests can enjoy Ca’Lunae’s bounty. “We have white wines, sparkling, our liquors, some red, and rosé wine. We have a big variety of wines, maybe some little production, some more famous,” Debora points out.
Perhaps most stunning of all is the shop where locals come to get their wines. The wines are dispensed from casks with what looks like gasoline nozzles. As she guided us through, Debora remarked, “There are some whites and reds. Different qualities.”
The casks feature meters that measure the volume of wine dispensed. People bring large jugs to buy the wine, and at home, they bottle it in smaller containers. Marco explained, “It goes back to the importance of Italians to drink wine, like, every day. This is the everyday epitome of drinking it.”
Marco continued, “Sometimes in America you see going to the grocery store and filling jugs of water. Here we just fill it with a jug of wine.”
It turns out that while the Liguria of today is a little more worldly and fast-paced than the Liguria we saw in the Ca’Lunae museum, its heart has not changed. The fundamentals of life are cultivated and elevated to a fine art here, and chief among them is a great wine.