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Cantine Lunae

Estate winery in Luni, La Spezia, producing Vermentino across three label tiers and a skin-macerated rosé from the easternmost edge of Liguria.

The producer

Cantine Lunae farms Vermentino on the far eastern edge of Liguria, in Luni, a village in La Spezia province where the Ligurian coast gives way to Tuscany. Paolo Bosoni founded the estate in 1966, when Colli di Luni had no formal appellation and Vermentino from this stretch of coast carried no regional appellation on the label. He built the estate over three decades, working with local growers and arguing for formal recognition of the zone, and watched the DOC arrive in 1989.

The range runs from the Etichetta Grigia, an approachable citrus-forward Vermentino for early drinking, through the Etichetta Nera, a single-vineyard older-vine bottling with more body, stone fruit, and a longer mineral finish. Numero Chiuso is a limited prestige expression produced only in suitable years. Mea Rosa, a rosé blended from Ciliegiolo, Merlot, and Vermentino Nero, undergoes cold maceration on the skins for 24 hours: it is cherry pink, with strawberry, pomegranate, and hibiscus aromatics and a faint tannin grip from the Ciliegiolo that separates it from a straightforward pale rosé.

Known for

Vermentino; Colli di Luni DOC

Notable facts

The story

The Appellation Paper

In 1989, when the Italian wine authorities formally granted DOC status to Colli di Luni, Paolo Bosoni had already been making wine in Luni for twenty-three years without an appellation on the label. He had watched Vermentino from this corridor sell without distinction from Sardinian Vermentino, its geography invisible to buyers and invisible on the bottle. He had spent years among the growers and producers arguing that the zone's specific character, the altitude of the Apuan Alps moderating the coast, the limestone soils, the position where Liguria meets Tuscany, deserved its own legal name. When the DOC was approved, the name Colli di Luni went onto the Cantine Lunae label and has not come off it since.

The Appellation Paper

In 1989, when the Italian wine authorities formally granted DOC status to Colli di Luni, Paolo Bosoni had already been making wine in Luni for twenty-three years without an appellation on the label. He had watched Vermentino from this corridor sell without distinction from Sardinian Vermentino, its geography invisible to buyers and invisible on the bottle. He had spent years among the growers and producers arguing that the zone's specific character, the altitude of the Apuan Alps moderating the coast, the limestone soils, the position where Liguria meets Tuscany, deserved its own legal name. When the DOC was approved, the name Colli di Luni went onto the Cantine Lunae label and has not come off it since.

From the atlas

Cantine Lunae

At A Glance

The Producer

Cantine Lunae farms Vermentino on the far eastern edge of Liguria, in Luni, a village in La Spezia province where the Ligurian coast gives way to Tuscany. Paolo Bosoni started the estate in 1966, when Colli di Luni had no formal appellation and Vermentino from this zone was largely sold without a regional appellation. He combined agricultural knowledge with commercial focus, grew the estate over three decades, and watched the DOC arrive in 1989.

The range is built on Vermentino across three distinct label tiers, with a rosé and red wine production playing secondary roles.

Place

Luni sits at the far northeast corner of Liguria, in a coastal corridor between the Apuan Alps and the Gulf of La Spezia. The Apuan Alps, rising abruptly behind the coast, push cool air down into the vineyards and slow the ripening that Mediterranean sun would otherwise accelerate. Vermentino retains its acidity instead of converting it to weight and alcohol.

The soils are limestone and clay, which drain well and force vine roots to search. That search concentrates the fruit rather than encouraging vigour. Colli di Luni DOC covers this corridor and extends a short distance into Tuscany. The label places Vermentino at the centre of the zone: the DOC framework was designed around the grape, and every tier of the Cantine Lunae range reflects what different parcels and vine ages do with it.

Soil And Site

Limestone and clay characterise the soils across the Cantine Lunae parcels. The limestone component provides drainage and a chalky mineral base; the clay retains just enough moisture to sustain the vines through the dry Ligurian summer. This combination is particularly well matched to Vermentino, which can turn flat and alcoholic on heavier soils. At Luni, the geology keeps the grape alive and the wines tightly wound.

The maritime influence from the Gulf of La Spezia brings salt air into the vineyards and contributes the floral lift that characterises the Vermentino grown here. The altitude of the Apuan Alps provides a temperature counterweight, ensuring that aromatic freshness is not cooked off before harvest.

Story

Paolo Bosoni's decision to bottle under the Cantine Lunae name in 1966 was not supported by any regulatory framework. Colli di Luni would not receive DOC status for another twenty-three years, and Vermentino from this stretch of coast had no distinct legal category that separated it from Sardinian Vermentino or the broader Ligurian production. Bosoni farmed anyway, built the estate's commercial relationships, and over the following two decades argued alongside other local growers that the zone deserved its own appellation.

The DOC came in 1989. Its effect was immediate on the label: Colli di Luni Vermentino could now carry an appellation that identified its geography, not just its grape.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate works three categories of land: owned parcels, leased parcels, and fruit from grower partners. This arrangement gives the winemaking team access to a wider range of parcel types and vine ages than purely owned land would allow. The Etichetta Nera draws from older vines, and the Numero Chiuso is a limited single-vineyard expression produced only in suitable years, which means the grower-partner network underpins the volume of the entry-tier Etichetta Grigia while the prestige tiers are built from more tightly controlled fruit.

For Mea Rosa, the cellar method is central to the wine's character. The rosé blend of Ciliegiolo, Merlot, and Vermentino Nero undergoes cold maceration on the skins for 24 hours, with fermentation at controlled temperatures. The cold maceration extracts colour and a degree of tannin without pulling the bitter phenolics that a longer extraction would give. The temperature control during fermentation preserves the aromatic compounds that make the wine smell of strawberry and hibiscus rather than cooked fruit.

Wines

The range is organised around three Vermentino expressions and a rosé. The Etichetta Grigia (Grey Label) is the entry-level bottling: aromatic, citrus-forward, and built for early drinking. Its purpose in the range is approachability; the grape shows its floral and stone-fruit aromatics without the weight of older-vine material.

The Etichetta Nera (Black Label) comes from older vines in a single vineyard. It has more body than the Grigia, with stone fruit and a longer finish. The extra vine age concentrates the flavour without sacrificing the acidity associated with Luni Vermentino.

Numero Chiuso is a prestige single-vineyard Vermentino produced only in years that allow it. Its limited release means it sits outside the regular range and functions as a benchmark rather than a staple.

Mea Rosa is cherry pink, with strawberry and berry aromatics, pomegranate undertones, and hibiscus flower. The Ciliegiolo in the blend contributes tannin grip that separates this wine from a straightforward pale rosé; the Merlot adds body; the Vermentino Nero brings aromatic lift. The tannin holds the fruit in place rather than letting it run flat on the finish.

The red wines use Sangiovese and other Colli di Luni varieties, though they play a supporting role to the Vermentino in the range's overall character.

In The Glass

Etichetta Nera Vermentino opens with stone fruit and floral aromatics lifted by the maritime air and cooled by the altitude above the Gulf of La Spezia. In the mouth, it shows a clean, dry palate with firm acidity and a mineral mid-palate grip that comes from the limestone soils. The finish is longer than the entry-level Grigia, with the fruit fading slowly rather than cutting off abruptly. The acidity keeps the wine fresh, prevents the Vermentino's natural weight from dominating, and gives the wine the ability to sit alongside food without disappearing.

Mea Rosa rises from the glass with strawberry and pomegranate, the hibiscus flower note giving it an aromatic clarity that a darker rosé would not have. On the palate, the Ciliegiolo tannin adds a faint grip behind the berry fruit. The finish is dry and short, with the fruit retreating cleanly. It is a rosé with more chew than colour suggests.

A Bottle To Understand It

Etichetta Nera is the bottle to start with. It is a dry white from Vermentino grown in a single older-vine vineyard in Colli di Luni DOC, and it shows what this zone does that other Italian Vermentino regions do not: the Apuan Alps cool the site enough to hold the grape's acidity in place, so the wine finishes dry, taut, and mineral rather than broad and alcoholic. Stone fruit on the nose, a firm acid line in the mouth, a chalky mineral quality on the finish. No oak. No residual sweetness. One bottle, correctly placed on the northeastern tip of Liguria, with a clear explanation of why the label says what it says and the glass delivers what it delivers.

Anecdote

In 1989, when the Italian wine authorities formally granted DOC status to Colli di Luni, Paolo Bosoni had already been making wine in Luni for twenty-three years without an appellation on the label. He had watched Vermentino from this corridor sell without distinction from Sardinian Vermentino, its geography invisible to buyers and invisible on the bottle. He had spent years among the growers and producers arguing that the zone's specific character, the altitude of the Apuan Alps moderating the coast, the limestone soils, the position where Liguria meets Tuscany, deserved its own legal name. When the DOC was approved, the name Colli di Luni went onto the Cantine Lunae label and has not come off it since.

Final Word

Cantine Lunae is the most direct route into Colli di Luni, a DOC that exists in part because of the work its founder did to put it there. The Etichetta Nera shows what Vermentino becomes on the northeastern edge of Liguria when the site is cool enough to hold the grape's acidity. The Mea Rosa shows what happens when the estate moves away from its dominant white grape and builds a rosé around tannin and maceration rather than pale colour. Between those two bottles, the range tells a legible story about a place that took twenty-three years to get its name on a label.

Sources

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