Visner di Pergola is not an ordinary sweet wine and it is certainly not a simple cherry liqueur. It is a traditional speciality from Pergola, a beautiful hilltop town in the Marche region of central Italy, made by refermenting local red wine with wild sour cherries known as visciole.

The result is deep ruby red, intensely aromatic and wonderfully balanced: sweet and generous at first, followed by lively cherry acidity and a gently bitter, savoury finish. It is one of those rare wines that feels both nostalgic and completely unexpected.

The Story Behind Visner

For generations, families throughout the Marche countryside made their own vino di visciole from local red wine and the small wild cherries growing around their farms. Often called the household liqueur or liquor di casa, the recipe was traditionally passed from parents to children and reserved for celebrations, guests and the end of a special meal.

Corrado Tonelli helped revive this nearly forgotten tradition in Pergola during the 1990s, bringing Visner beyond the family table while preserving its strong connection to the region.

Today, the Tonelli family continues this artisan tradition across two generations. Their Selezione bottling is distinguished by the exclusive use of visciole sourced from the local Pergola area, giving the wine its unmistakable perfume, colour and identity.

What Are Visciole?

Visciole are small wild sour cherries from the Prunus cerasus family. Darker, sharper and more aromatic than ordinary sweet cherries, they naturally bring freshness and complexity to the wine.

Their bright acidity is particularly important: it cuts through the sweetness, preventing the wine from becoming heavy or syrupy and leaving the palate refreshed after every sip.

How It Is Made

Visner begins with a structured red wine based on Montepulciano and Sangiovese. The wine is combined with locally grown wild sour cherries and sugar, then allowed to ferment again.

This secondary fermentation brings the character of the wine and fruit together, creating far more depth and structure than a simple fruit infusion. The wine is then rested and filtered before bottling.

This traditional method produces a dessert wine with genuine red wine body, vibrant fruit, balanced sweetness and a distinctive bitter-cherry finish.

Tasting Notes

Deep ruby red in the glass, Visner opens with an intense perfume of ripe cherry, wild sour cherry and marasca, followed by red berries, delicate florals and a subtle almond-like note.

The palate is soft, full and enveloping, with concentrated cherry fruit and gentle sweetness balanced by fresh acidity. A pleasantly bitter edge emerges on the finish, making the wine feel elegant and composed rather than overly sweet.

Rich, aromatic and beautifully persistent, it tastes like ripe cherries captured at their most expressive.

Why I Chose This Wine

I selected Visner because it offers something completely different from a classic dessert wine. It has history, regional identity and a flavour that immediately connects with food.

We also serve it by the glass at Carne & Cucina, where it has become one of our favourite ways to finish a meal. The combination of red-wine structure and vibrant sour cherry makes it memorable even for guests who do not normally drink dessert wine.

This is a bottle for curious wine lovers, Italian-food enthusiasts and anyone looking for a distinctive alternative to Port, liqueur or conventional sweet wine. 

erve lightly chilled at approximately 10–12°C in a small wine glass rather than a liqueur glass. This gives the cherry perfume and red-wine character enough space to open.

Visner is also ideal when you only want one glass. Replace the cork after serving and refrigerate the bottle so you can return to it over several occasions.