Someone thinks we are the only makers of our destiny, but the course of my life has been determined by such factors as being born and raised in a family well rooted in the vine growing tradition on the left bank of the river Piave, just a few kilometres from the prestigious Œnological Institute of Conegliano.
1986 was a very bad year for the Italian wine business because of the deadly consequences caused by the excessive amount of ethanol used by some unscrupulous winemakers, but for me it marked the start of a new adventure : the development of our family-run farm.
Enhancing the Piave wines is certainly a gratifying aspect of my job, but ever since the early nineties the main challenge to my skills has been the making of Raboso Piave. Growing its grapes and making it as my father had taught me was no longer enough for me; I wanted it to be popular and appreciated also beyond the borders of its region of origin, where according to tradition it had to be "furious" (in Italian "raboso" sounds like "rabbioso", that is "furious"), hard, harsh and sometimes almost undrinkable.
When Luigi Veronelli described our Raboso on the Corriere della Sera of 14th April 2002 as " charming because of its acidity, aromas and structure" I understood that at last the "Piave Black Pearl" had reached a high status, and since then the challenge has become even more stimulating.
The plain land of the Treviso province is crossed by the river Piave, which brings along the memories of many furious battles fought along its banks near the end of World War I.
The current of the river is sometimes very strong in autumn, and the plain has been repeatedly flooded with devastating effects. The proud people who have been living along the Piave banks for hundreds of years have somehow picked up the nature of the river pebbles: hard and rounded.
The extraordinary character of this river permeates the whole area as it winds its way through it, and some villages bear its mark on their names: Tezze di Piave, Mareno di Piave, Santa Lucia di Piave.
Moreover, the only native red grape variety of the Treviso province bears its name, too: Raboso Piave, grown in the Piave Appellation of Origin created in 1971.
The Raboso variety has always thrived in the alluvial soil of the Piave Appellation of Origin, and at the times of the Venetian Republic it was already the leading variety for the production of wine grapes.
The creation of the prestigious and renowned Conegliano OEnological Institute (the oldest such institution in Italy) just a few kilometres away from the river course is further evidence of the importance of the wine tradition in the area.
The Cecchetto Winery, founded on a long family tradition linked to vine growing and the production of wine, has its headquarters at Tezze di Piave, in the heart of the Piave DOC area in the province of Treviso, and a new production site at Lorenzaga di Motta di Livenza (TV), where the grapes from the 35 hectares of vineyards around the winery are made into wine.
Committed right from the start to valorising and popularizing the grape variety Raboso del Piave together with its territory, the Cecchetto Winery is one of the founders of the CONFRATERNITA DEL RABOSO PIAVE and is a member of the TUTELARY CONSORTIUM OF PIAVE WINES and the PIAVE WINE ROAD.
The company is also a member of the WINE TOURISM MOVEMENT and can be visited subject to prior booking.
Particularly interesting is the experimental vineyard of Raboso Piave adjacent to the winery, and the ageing section where part of the Raboso Piave is held in small casks of local wood. The splendid Raboso Piave grapes can be admired in the sheds where they undergo natural drying from October to December.
Since 23 September 2005 the Giorgio Cecchetto Farm, through voluntary and innovative SUPPLY CHAIN CERTIFICATION, ensures absolute transparency in every operation of the wine production process, from the vineyard to the wine glass, and for some years now has employed the services of an internationally known Wine Maker, Oenologist Franco Bernabei, who has been entrusted with the supervision of the production cycle in order to further enhance the quality standards of our wine.