THE MEMORIES
Our memories are connected to the Raboso del Piave grapes and the dark, strong, victorious wine that ages so well, whose name is derived perhaps from a geographical reference to a homonymous tributary of the Piave river. More probably its etymology is a reference to the word rabbioso: meaning angry, impetuous and vigorous.
A wine that has gone through wars and epidemics, passing from the Roman “Picina Omnium Nigerrima” to the “Vin da Viajo” of the Serenissima. Today, the generations that over the centuries have followed one another with passion and tenacity, counting on an almost unique bond with the territory, are working to make all this known and shared, through meetings, visits, and tastings. Not just the wine, but also the culture, art, music, and a language of communication which now can go beyond borders and reach customers and friends all over the world
1400-1500
The first evidence of the Bonotto family in the Veneto area, and in particular in Tezze, dates back to the 15th century, an era during which a surname began to be attributed to kinfolks and family groups were configured. The name Bonus became ‘Bonotus’ and later Bonotto, meaning ‘good’, ‘which brings good’. The Bonotto dalle Tezze family, since the earliest documented history, has always been dedicated to agriculture and trade in its products. And the wine, Raboso del Piave, in particular, has always been important proof of this dedication.
The family also took it upon themselves to interpret the needs and expectations of the community in which they lived, as evidenced by the decisive intervention that took place in the mid-16th century that led to the construction of the church and the establishment of the town’s parish. The brothers Michele and Piero Bonotto dalle Tezze also expanded their interests with the management of the tithes of the Abbey of Lovadina and to the management for many decades of the pastures belonging to the Monastery of S. Maria degli Angeli in Murano for which they had to pay rents quantifiable in sums of money and in crops and livestock, including that Vin Nero for Venice, so well described in the parchments still kept today in the State Archives at the Frari.
1600-1800
The fall of Venice opens new scenarios in the governance of the territory with disturbances that will influence the destinies of these lands. Historical documents in town halls and parishes reconstruct the passage of the family from a life in the countryside on the outskirts of the village to the current settlement in the old town square. Great developments in vine cultivation systems helped in the fight against new diseases, and other varieties were introduced for more modern wines. The Bonotto dalle Tezze family actively participated in the continuous process of acquiring new knowledge in collaboration with the Cattedre Ambulanti di Agraria , an association of roving agricultural schools and the educational and research institutions that gradually arose in the region.
Raboso continued, thanks to its proverbial rusticity and resistance, to be a reference wine, appreciated and discussed in the European courts which kept the old vintages available. It remains the only red-berried grape to survive in an economically sustainable cultivation.
1900
The roar of the bombings of the First World War was dangerously approaching, but the vineyard and cellar activity continued, even without the men of the family who were committed to the front. However, the Raboso from the 1917 vintage, that had been booked by customers, was never delivered as it was requisitioned, like so many other goods, to become aid and refreshment for the invading army. The war was destined to literally arrive in the house, with the Villa occupied by the enemy commanders, along with the cellars and stables.
The bombing of buildings and the hunger and fear had devastating effects on the few people left, the only witnesses of the destruction. In the early 1920s, with great effort, the brothers Antonio and Giovanni Bonotto returned from the war and began the long tiring work of reconstruction and restoration of the activities, not to mention some important personal achievements such as the degree in Engineering in Padua, the introduction of innovations and new investments and continued dedication to those fundamental forms of consortium cooperation to help revive a destroyed territory. Giovanni and his wife Maria also had a son, Luigi, born in 1924, who with his work would guarantee a future for the company. He became a cultured and wise man, an esteemed agronomist who was passionate about all that the earth represented.
Having emerged from the lacerations of the Second World War, he successfully managed the family business, inheriting from his father a place in local associations of farmers, milk and wine producers. It would become the period of the “economic miracle” of a young society and it was in that post-war period, which would gradually industrialize and motorize, that Luigi would be called upon to interpret the changes without losing the heritage of style and values of past generations.
2000
If from the mid-twentieth century the Raboso begins to lose its conditions of substantial monopoly in the cultivation of vines and the wine market, with the advent of the twenty-first century it will be called upon to increasingly manifest its valuable and historical identity as a point of reference in an increasingly multi-ethnic and globalized society.
The Bonotto brothers and sisters, the seventeenth documented generation, entrust Antonio and his wife Vittoria with the fascinating task of writing the new pages of this long story of life and work. It is today’s activity that is expressed in a thousand different projects and initiatives. But we can best experience this in person and not reading about it in books or at the site.
This is why the Bonotto family awaits you at the company headquarters, in the same ancient courtyard that has witnessed the lives of generations of winemakers, to meet the people and visit the places of these unique and nonreplicable wines.
Bonotto Delle Tezze is a member of the Wine Tourism Movement and of the Raboso Piave Brotherhood
