The Food And Wines Of Liguria Show The Bounty Of The Tyrrhenian Sea And The Terroir Of Hillside Vineyards
It seems a given that when in Rome, one should eat and drink as the Romans do, but I firmly believe this is true of anywhere you go, in or outside of Italy. Not doing so robs a person of one of the central constructs of a culture for whom their food and wine is as fortifying as it is beloved.
Thus, when in Liguria, that strip of a province lying north of Rome and along the Tyrrhenian Sea, the local food and wine are as different as the food of Florida is from that of Maine.
Liguria begins where Tuscany leaves off, centered by the vast city of Genoa and extending up through the French Riviera, whose towns along the coast give good reason to call Liguria the Italian Riviera, where nothing improves the taste of wine more than salt sea air.
There are more than 5,000 hectares of vineyards in Liguria that produce about 170,000 hectoliters (4.5 million gallons) of wine each year. D.O.C. appellation wine production totals about 30,000 hectoliters. Most come from small estates and farms and are drunk locally as modest, light whites, though those of the Cinque Terre appellation, have acquired a considerable reputation. The Cinque Terre producer to look for is Walter De Batte, famous for his stringently low yields.
Some, like the very expensive dessert wine sciacchetrà, with an alcohol level of 17%, are in very short supply, with bottles selling for $120. But most wine lovers have probably never heard of other D.O.C appellations like Colli di Luni, Colline di Levanto, Golfo del Tigullio, Pornassio, Riviera Ligure di Ponente, and other obscure regions.
In fact, Ligurian wines are better known by their grape varieties—principally Pigato and Vermentino (along with a few decent red wines like Ormeasco (made from dolcetto grapes) and Rossese. Some are grown on slopes that angle as much as 60 degrees. Seven terroirs have the D.O.C appellation.
Despite their unfamiliarity, a check of Ligurian wines on on-line sites shows an abundance of bottlings from excellent wineries including Bisson Abissi Spumante ($53), Forlini Cappellini ($35), Ottaciani Lambruschi 'Costa Marina' Vermentino Colli di Luni ($37), and Campogrande ($37). One of the better red wines is from Maccario Dringenberg "Posau" Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore ($32).
The food is Liguria, given its location, is largely from the sea and one of the best places in Genoa to find it is at Da Rina (Mura delle Grazie 3r; 010-246-6475), here since 1946, where I drank a delightful non-D.O.C. Lumassina, full of mineral flavors and wild fennel with bagnun, a stew of anchovies, tomato, and marjoram, and mandilli de saea ("silk handkerchiefs") of sheer pasta with a pesto––which is the verdant signature sauce of Liguria made in a mortar with springtime basil, pignoli nuts, olive oil and grated cheese.
In the large, very colorful fishing town of Chiavari I ate al fresco at the very rustic, very cheap (Via Bighetti 51; 0185-301-063), nibbling the local specialty, farinata, a pancake made with chickpea flour, along with zucchini and peppers stuffed with ground meat and cheese, and the perfectly fried fresh anchovies that crunched in the mouth. Chiavari also has one of the region's best wineshops, Enoteca Bisson (Corso Gianelli 28), which carries a wide selection of Ligurian wines, including several highly regarded varietals made for them by local wineries.
There are few more beautiful fairy tale towns in Italy than Portofino, where Dolce and Gabbana and Giorgio Armani own villas, especially viewed from the Hotel Splendido (Via Roma 2; 0185 267802), whose La Terrazza restaurant is one of the best––and most expensive––in the region, featuring dishes like Mediterranean lobster with caper leaves and Val d'Aveto stracchino cheese; pumpkin gnocchi with porcini mushrooms and tomato fondant; and fillet of amberjack with Trombetta zucchini and scapece sauce.
Down below in the harbor I had an extensive but inexpensive meal at Trattoria Concordia (Via del Fondaco 5; 0185-269-207), which has a particularly excellent wine list Azienda Agriciola Riccardo Bruna Pigato, a big, floral wine with minerality.
Driving northwest one crosses the French border where the wines of Provence flourish and the food, almost mile by mile, takes on a different flavor while still based on the same ingredients as in Liguria. As I said, eat when in Liguria eat as the Ligurians do, but when you get to Nice, by all means have the have the salade Niçoise.
