Vini Bisson stands on the Tigullio coast at Chiavari, a Ligurian estate that built its reputation by reviving the autochthonous grapes the region had nearly lost. Founder Pierluigi Lugano produced the first Ligurian metodo classico, then took the further step of aging it sixty metres beneath the sea off Sestri Levante, a technique no winery had used before. The result is a working estate that pairs a historic enoteca in Chiavari with a 2019 cellar and agriturismo at Sestri Levante, both still run by the Lugano family.
Liguria
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Bookable experiences, curated by our editors. External booking where marked.
Underground caveau visit at the Sestri Levante cellar with a guided tasting of the Bisson range, including the sea-aged Abissi metodo classico. Hosted at Contrada Pestella 42/1, opened in 2019.
Book this experienceOpen-air aperitivo inside the historic Tigullio vineyard at the Cantina degli Abissi, paired with the estate's still and sparkling Ligurian wines.
Book this experienceThe original 1978 wine shop on Corso Gianelli, selling the full Bisson range alongside a curated Italian and international wine selection. Open Monday to Saturday with standard retail hours.
EnquireUnderground caveau visit at the Sestri Levante cellar with a guided tasting of the Bisson range, including the sea-aged Abissi metodo classico. Hosted at Contrada Pestella 42/1, opened in 2019.
Book this experienceThe Bisson story begins in 1978, when Pierluigi Lugano and his wife Wally Bisson opened a Bottega del Vino in Chiavari. Lugano had trained as a sommelier and saw what most Ligurian growers had given up on, that the steep, sea-facing terraces of the Riviera di Levante still held grape varieties worth saving. He began buying small parcels from local growers and vinifying them himself, experimenting with Bianchetta Genovese, Cimixà, Ciliegiolo and other near-extinct cultivars until they found a stable expression. From these trials came Musaico, the estate's signature red blend, alongside the first commercial bottlings of Bianchetta and Cimixà to leave the region in decades.
Quality control pushed the family from buying grapes to growing them. Bisson now farms its own vineyards across the Riviera di Levante, working with what the official site calls a strict limitation of synthetic treatments rather than a certified organic protocol. The grape mix sits squarely on Liguria's traditional palette: Bianchetta Genovese and Cimixà for the brisk, salt-edged whites, Vermentino and Pigato for the body, Ciliegiolo and Granaccia for the reds, plus the Sciacchetrà passito tradition of the Cinque Terre.
In the early 1990s Lugano made the first Ligurian metodo classico sparkling wine, registered as matricola number one in the province of Genoa. Late in the same decade, he began studying a question no other producer was asking, whether spumante could age on the seabed instead of in a cellar. After several years of bottle, cap and cage engineering, the first Abissi vintage went down on 20 May 2009, lowered to sixty metres in the Cala degli Inglesi within the Portofino Marine Protected Area. The bottles were retrieved on 20 July 2010, and the technique has been the estate's editorial signature ever since, covered by the New York Times, Telegraph, Forbes and Washington Post.
The two public faces of Bisson reflect that arc. The Enoteca Bisson on Corso Gianelli in Chiavari is the original 1978 wine shop, still selling the estate's wines alongside a curated Italian and international list. The Cantina degli Abissi opened at Sestri Levante in 2019, set inside a historic Tigullio vineyard with a restaurant, an underground cellar visit, vineyard aperitivi and seasonal events. The estate is now registered to Marta and Pier Luigi Lugano, keeping ownership inside the founding family while passing day-to-day work to the next generation.
Editorially verified by ItalianWines.co.uk.
Plate I · LIGURIA
Est. 1978 
Tastings
Tours
Accommodation
Walk-ins welcome 
3
