Honey, meat, cereals
Centenary forests of oak, cherry, acacia, lime and chestnut trees, permanent meadows where cows, horses and farmyard animals graze, cereal and legume fields.
The estate's products
At La Raia, in addition to the 50 hectares of vineyards, there are woods, meadows and fields where we grow ancient cereals, such as spelt and rye, implementing land rotation according to the principles of biodynamic agriculture. We have introduced pasture-based cattle breeding, with Fassone cows whose meat is the star of Locanda La Raia's menus. The richness and variety of the vegetation on the estate make La Raia a true oasis of biodiversity for bees and other pollinating insects: hence a copious production of organic acacia and mixed-flower honeys.
Organic honey
In the over 180 hectares of La Raia there is a lake teeming with fish, centuries-old forests of oak, cherry, acacia, lime and chestnut trees, permanent meadows where cows, horses and farmyard animals graze, fields cultivated with cereals and legumes and finally expanses of vineyards of the indigenous Cortese grape variety.
The bees find here that variety of flowers and botanical resources and that biodiversity of nectariferous supplies and variegated pollen, capable of ensuring and guaranteeing to the hives, with the bees' incessant patrolling, a rich and varied diet throughout the year.
La Raia can thus produce a very pure organic monofloral acacia honey and an aromatic organic early summer wildflower honey.
Fassone meat
Our pastures are home to free-range Piedmontese Fassone cows, particularly prized for their highly developed muscle mass. It is one of Italy's five top breeds of cattle for feed. Cows and calves can be found in the meadows behind the Vignone, at the entrance to La Raia, near the old Madonnina vineyard. The meat of our Fassone cows is one of the main ingredients of Locanda La Raia's cuisine, and of Tommaso Arrigoni's menus: meat beaten with a knife and ragout are some of our Piedmontese classics.
Ancient cereals
We cultivate around 60 hectares of ancient cereals on the estate, such as emmer monococcum, emmer dicoccum and emmer spelt, as well as rye. We alternate between different crops, rotate the land and cultivate according to the principles of biodynamic agriculture.
The presence of these arable crops is one of the distinctive elements that determine the biodiversity of La Raia, a farm in which different natural environments including watercourses and woods alternate, creating a unique ecosystem.
