An ancient and rare passito wine, a precious gift that springs from the countryman’s innate knowledge of working between the land and the sea.
In the oral memory of the old people Sciacchetrà was called within their families renfursà in Riomaggiore and Manarola. Vin Dulce in Vernazza. Every family produced a small amount of it which was used for important family events such as birth, marriage and even death in Vernazza. It was used as a gift for thanking (ringraziare) and a gift for ingratiating (ingraziarsi) the powerful: the doctor, the lawyer, the priest and in general to ask for “protection” (influencial recommendations). At the beginning of the century fillossera arrived on the ships coming from the U.S.A. a disaster for European viticulture. It arrived in Cinque Terre slightly later as the area was cut off from communication with the rest of the country. Many emigrated as a result of the poverty that followed the collapse of the local economy which was based only upon the vines.
The vines were subsequently reimplanted from “selvatico” but a great number of terraces was never replaced. Another part was lost from the 60s to the 80s years in which there was a consistent demographic decline and significative emigration in search of better living conditions.
Local economy based itself on the sales of the grapes Sciacchetrà was never sold until in 1985 the Cooperativa Agricoltura started to do it.
At a certain point in time the sweet wine started to be called Sciacchetrà, the origin of the name remains uncertain, many different hypothesis, but amongst the older ones, and not only them, it is still called renfursà.
