NIXON NEVER DRANK RABOSO…

…He may have drunk with Rebozo, and it would have more likely been Mai Tais or a Margaux anyway. Besides, it was only beginning  in the 1970s that Raboso, which was previously only considered to be a mouth-staining, astringent farmer’s grape, was begun to be treated with any respect, raised in good oak casks or barrels, and then given the luxury to mellow in the cellar.

As it turned out, the transformation of this variety that was long thought to be too rustic and hard to ever produce “fine” wine, was nothing short of amazing. The Raboso (ra BOH zo) vine can be found growing only in the gravelly soil of the Piave river valley in southeastern Veneto, and as alluded to above, perhaps only its extreme hardiness and resistence to all manner of vine ailments allowed it to survive as the local palate scrubber for fat winter meals drunk by those who worked with their hands.

So the long and the short of it is that Raboso cleans up real nice (with proper treatment, it even makes a pretty, bubbly frizzante) yielding a wine that can be likened to a  more rustic, exotic, and fiery Left Bank Bordeaux, and hey, that’s Margaux’s location, right?…Well, Margaux it’s decidedly not, but maybe Dick and Bebe could have enjoyed this wine (over a platter of grilled eels and polenta, or the like) anyway…

My own White House kitchen (staff of 1) turned out an appetizer of warm polenta and olive paste rolls, and then a grilled sliced steak with grilled leeks dressed with a thick hard boiled egg and caper vinaigrette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tessere Piave Raboso “Barbarigo” 2006

Deep, dark, and unfiltered blackish purple color. The nose pops with brooding and intense aromas of dried fruit, cracked black pepper, black raspberry, wood smoke, toasted spices, and licorice root. The full bodied palate is at its core a powerful, wiry-framed beast dressed in deep-pile velvet duds. The finely stubbly tannins firmly frame flavors of rich plum, blueberry, and myrtle, roasted chestnuts, and dried pungent herbs that fade out at length with a deep “cut”.