Amalfi Coast with Wine

Though post-Greek in its current form, the Amalfi Coast's terraced vineyards echo Greek and Roman methods. The dramatic setting - vines clinging to cliffs above the sea - creates unique wines. Ravello, Positano, and Amalfi offer excellent wine bars with coastal views.

What to do there

3 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine That Needed a Donkey to Reach You Wine · Price: high

   Every bottle of Marisa Cuomo Fiorduva started its journey carried by hand or by donkey down a 1,500-foot cliff.

   The Costa d'Amalfi DOC produces just 250,000 bottles per year from vineyards on terraces carved into limestone cliffs above the sea. At Cantina Marisa Cuomo in Furore, the 35-hectare vineyard hangs directly over the Tyrrhenian - the highest terraces require ropes, hand harvesting, and transport by monorail or donkey paths. The Fiorduva costs around €97 a bottle: three grapes (Fenile, Ginestra, Ripoli) that barely exist outside these 35 hectares, grown by people who abseil down cliffs to harvest them. Book 2 days ahead at marisacuomo.com, request the tasting including Fiorduva, and ask: 'Which vineyards are hardest to reach?' The answer involves ropes and animals.

   Backup: Furore Rosso (Piedirosso + Aglianico) or Furore Bianco tell the same indigenous-variety story at lower cost.

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2. 2 Find the Sea Spray on a Grape Leaf Adventure · Free

   The salt that makes Amalfi wines taste of the sea is visible on the vines.

   The constant sea breeze off the Tyrrhenian carries salt spray that settles on vine leaves and grape skins - this maritime minerality is why Amalfi Coast wines taste different from any other Italian whites. You're literally tasting the Tyrrhenian Sea. At any roadside vineyard along SS163 between Positano and Amalfi, touch a vine leaf (ask permission first if fenced) and taste your fingertip. Within 200 meters of the sea, you may taste salt - the physical mechanism behind the 'minerality' tasters describe.

   Backup: Stand at any coastal viewpoint facing the sea with wind in your face, then taste your lips. The same aerosol touching the vines is touching you.

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3. 3 Find a Wine Bar Older Than Tourism Here Wine · Price: moderate · Optional

   Ravello's wine bars were here before tourists discovered the Amalfi Coast.

   Ravello has been making wine continuously since at least 1896 (Cantine Caruso). The Sammarco winery produces Klingsor Garden - named after Wagner's Parsifal because Richard Wagner visited Villa Rufolo in 1880 and declared it inspired his vision of Klingsor's magic garden. A wine named after a German opera composer's mythical garden vision, made from indigenous Campanian grapes, sold above the Amalfi Coast. Find a glass of Gran Caruso or any Tramonti subzone Tintore in Ravello's main piazza - Tintore stains your glass deeply with its abundant coloring substances.

   Backup: Any sea-view bar in Ravello or Positano carries Costa d'Amalfi DOC wines. Ask for 'vino locale della costiera.'

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Insider tips

• Ravello has best wine focus

• Costa d'Amalfi DOC worth seeking

• Terracing is a Greek heritage

• Book everything in advance