Our travel guide book (“Rick Steves’ Cinque Terre”) recommended a wine tasting at a family-owned vineyard in Monterosso--Buranco. Rick said that there was a tasting every day at noon, but you would need a reservation. Friday afternoon, Brian and I decided to take a walk to the vineyard to see if we could get on Saturday’s reservation list. I was expecting that we’d have to hike way outside the village, but it was just a short (difficult) hike up a side road to the village. There, tucked in the hillside, was a beautiful log house overlooking a small valley and surrounded by hills covered in grapevines. Olive trees lined the dirt path in front of the house, and below in the valley honey bees swarmed their man-made hives.

We didn’t see anyone around other than a few people up in the hills watering the grapevines. We stopped for a few minutes to take some pictures, and were headed back down the path when a Buranco employee came up to us. We explained that we wanted to do the one tasting the next day and he said “Tomorrow, how about right now?” I looked at Brian, he shrugged, and I said “Sure.”

The employee led us to a wicker bench on the terrace overlooking the vineyard. First, he brought out a plate of appetizers, including bruschetta with the best pesto I've ever had (pesto originated in Cinque Terre). He also brought us each two glasses, and proceeded to fill one with a red wine and one with a white wine. This was no tasting, each glass was at least double what you would get at a restaurant. He explained to us how each wine was made, but with his accent and his limited English, I just had to rely on my “smile and nod” fallback. I had my travel guide out and he said, “Ah, Ricky Steve’s! The church of the traveler.” (I think he meant the traveler’s bible).

[Sidenote: Rick Steves has become a bit of a hero to me on this trip and I covet his job. Brian has filled me with hope that he will read my blog and ask me to be on his staff. After the owner mentioned Rick Steves, Brian wondered aloud if Rick Steves had been to Cinque Terre and if he actually knows any of the people there. His question was answered later that night when I was looking up information on Cinque Terre’s flood—Rick Steves wrote an article on the flood saying how he goes to Cinque Terre every year and is friends with the locals.]

Next, the employee brought us a small (but full) glass of Sciacchetra. Sciacchetra is a sweeter wine that is gold in color and is made from dried grapes. After we’d finished off those glasses, another employee came over and asked us if we’d like a glass of limoncino. Again we shrugged our shoulders and said “sure.” I knew limoncino was strong, but I didn’t realize how strong. It tasted like I was sipping on a glass of about five lemon-drop shots. We took our time on the limoncino and started worrying about how much this would cost. I didn’t bring my wallet with me, and Brian only had about 70 Euro on him. We were afraid we were going to have to spend the rest of our weekend stomping grapes. After we finished our limoncino, Brian sought out one of the employees to pay. We were only charged 40 Euro total, which was really surprising since a glass of Sciacchetra in a restaurant alone would have cost us more than 10 Euro.

This wine tasting hands-down beat any that I’ve had in America.