Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
recently created in 2010, demands there be a
minimum of 70 percent Raboso Piave and up to
30 percent Raboso Veronese in the blend, but 15
to 30 percent of the grapes have to be air-dried.
By contrast, the Bagnoli Friularo DOCG
requires 90 percent Raboso Piave grapes.
Good dry wines made with Raboso Piave are
intensely perfumed and can be quite a revela-
tion, given the wine's less-than-stellar reputa-
tion. More often than not, these wines are
mean and tough, but well-made ones are
brightly fruity (strawberry, black cherry) and
fl oral (violet) with hints of tobacco and black
pepper. I never cease to be amazed at just how
intensely perfumed they are; the lively acidity is
refreshing and not at all bothersome when sup-
ported by enough extract and sweetness. Air-
dried wines are smooth and opulent, and
resemble a lighter-styled Amarone, though red-
fruit aromas and fl avors are more common in
wines made with the Raboso Piave variety than
in Amarone. In my experience, monovarietal
Raboso Piave wines made with the VCR 19
clone are more intense, those with VCR 20
more refi ned, and those with the VCR 43 more
complex, but more tasting experience needs to
be accumulated before passing defi nitive judg-
ments. As is often the case, a blend of the three
may offer the best results of all. It is only fair to
recognize that this is one of Italy's most
improved wines of the last twenty years, and
there are now many different and very fi ne
bottlings available that testify that the variety
deserves more than its so-so reputation.
Piave. Barbaran* is another good producer who
also makes a Raboso Veronese wine, so it's very
interesting to drink his two different raboso
wines side by side and catch the differences
between them (partially due to winemaking
however, as they macerate the Raboso Piave
must on the skins for a longer period of time,
thereby obtaining a more structured wine). La
Montecchia is an outstanding producer of
Rab-
oso
wine (Forzatè) but it is a blend of the Piave
and Veronese varieties, and so cannot be taken
as an example of either variety (and hence no
asterisk rating).
Raboso Veronese
where it's found:
Veneto, Emilia-Romagna.
national registry code number:
204.
color:
red.
Raboso Veronese was long misidentifi ed not
just with the other
Raboso
s but with
Refosco
s
(Mas and Pulliat 1874-79) and with Fortana
(Di Rovasenda 1877); the fact that it was some-
times called Negron or Negrar also caused con-
fusion with Negrara Veronese, another cultivar.
Morphologically, Raboso Veronese is very simi-
lar to Raboso Piave, but the two are distinct
isoenzymatically and genetically, and as I men-
tioned in the introduction to the
Raboso
family,
both
Raboso
varieties can easily be distin-
guished on the basis of their respective antho-
cyanin profi les.
It's a good thing those tests exist, for though
I have walked Veneto's vineyards countless
times, I still get the two regularly mixed up,
even when the grapes are visible and fully ripe.
Looking at the leaves helps, as Veronese's are
much more indented than those of Raboso
Piave; the grape bunch is also more cylindrical
and less compact, and its berries are more
spherical. The grapes also taste less acidic and
astringent than those of Raboso Piave. In gen-
eral, Raboso Veronese ripens as much as two
weeks earlier than Raboso Piave, a direct conse-
quence of its genetic link to Marzemina Bianca,
an early to mid-ripening variety; Raboso
Veronese is also oidium sensitive but drought-
wines to try:
Giorgio Cecchetto*** (Raboso is
the name of the traditional bottling, Gelsaia is
the air-dried version; both are excellent, but I
prefer the Raboso), Bellussi** (L'Autentico),
Ornella Molon Traverso**, Bonotto delle Tezze*
(Potestà, but truly noteworthy is the Passito),
and Tenuta Santomè* (also a very good Raboso
Passito). Italo Cescon* is a famous local and
very traditionally minded producer who makes
both a Raboso (Il Tralcetto) and a Raboso Rosé;
unfortunately he fails to specify which Raboso
variety he uses, though it's certainly Raboso
