Raboso is a
red wine
Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties - (red grapes.) The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice fro ...
grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
grown primarily in the eastern part of
Veneto
Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
. It is also called Raboso Piave, from the name of a river near where it is grown. It produces deep-colored wine, with notably high levels of
tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...
and medium alcohol content and high acid. The name ''raboxo'' in the native
Venetian language
Venetian, also known as wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ), is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in Veneto, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is som ...
means "angry", because angry is the sensation in the mouth when this wine is drunk young.
Raboso was in the past the most cultivated grape variety of eastern Veneto; Venetian navigators called it ''vin de viajo'', "wine of travel", because it was the most resistant to aging and transport. Its popularity decreased in the 20th century, and today the vineyards of Raboxo are just 1–2% of the total amount of vineyards in Veneto.
The vine ripens relatively quite late, producing good yields with high resistance to fungal disease and rot.
[J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 210 Mitchell Beazley 1986 ] The grape crossed with another Veneto wine grape,
Marzemina bianca
Marzemina bianca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Veneto (wine), Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Ampelographers believe that the grape is a natural crossing (vine), crossing of the Trentino wine grape Marzemino and th ...
, to produce
Raboso Veronese.
[J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 229–230, 392, 604–605 Allen Lane 2012 ]
It produces quite a large, tight, cylindrical bunch with one or two wings and a sturdy bunchstem. Its spheroid grape has a blue-black, very tough skin with good bloom. The flesh has a varietal, neutral flavour which is slightly meaty and sweet-acidulous-astringent.
Each grape has two or three average-sized, pear-shaped seeds. This vigorous vine can have high
yield. Optimal vinification requires appropriate maceration of juice and skins: this results in a full-bodied wine, acidic and tannic when young, ideal for laying down.
Left to age in wooden barrels, it will gradually acquire a deep ruby colour with garnet tinges, a broad and full bouquet of wild violets with a concentrated note of morello cherry; the palate is dry, astringent. In
food and wine pairing, it can go with furred and feathered game, red meat, grilled meats and well-matured cheeses.
Relationship to other grapes
During a series of trials between 1930 and 1935, Raboso Piave was
crossed with
Black Muscat to create the red wine grape variety
Manzoni Moscato.
[J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 469-471, 594-595 Allen Lane 2012 ]
References
{{reflist
Red wine grape varieties