Beniamino Maschio

OUR HISTORY - A devotion to distilling

The story of the family business begins in the mid-19th century when an

ancestor of Beniamino Maschio, newly-married and living with his young

wife in a house owned by his father in Cismon on the slopes of Monte

Grappa, accepted an invitation from Franz Joseph to go and work in

Transylvania (Romania), where there was a demand for labour for the

construction of a new railway.

The Romanian branch of the Maschio family grew, and once the railway was

completed its members sought work in other areas including the

distillation of fruit liqueurs and pomace on an estate owned by the

descendants of Prince Vlad, better known as Dracula. Later, pining for

home, some members of the family decided to return to Veneto.

It was 1892 when Antonio Maschio arrived in Vazzola in the province of

Treviso. Before long, he had built his own small distillery, and it was

here that the family’s great adventure in the fascinating world of

grappa began. One of Antonio’s sons, Giuseppe, married on the 17th

February 1900 and he and his wife brought twelve children into the

world. Then during this period Giuseppe expanded the distillery. Three

of their children became well know for different reasons. Bonaventura

(later to found his own distilling business in Gaiarine, Treviso

province) Aurelio, who became a Salesian missionary and was known as

the “John Bosco of India” in recognition of the charity institutions he

founded there (all still in operation today), and the youngest child of

all, Beniamino, future master distiller and the father of Alessandro and

Flavia, who now run the family distillery in San Pietro di Feletto near

Conegliano (Treviso province).

Beniamino Maschio used to define himself as a “lover of monovarietal

grappa”. For several years now, the company has been run by Beniamino’s

children, Alessandro and Flavia. Alessandro himself, is father of five

children, one of the most active and innovative distillers in his home

region of Veneto, where distilleries are plentiful. As president of

Istituto Grappa Veneta, Alessandro has worked to promote the production

of monovarietal grappa made from grapes such as Cabernet, Chardonnay,

Manzoni bianco, Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Sauvignon, while

also creating gems such as the grappas produced in Amarone, Prosecco and

Cartizze (aged in small casks made from wild cherry wood) and Brenté, a

blend of Pinot and Prosecco grapes (aged from 3 to 9 years in oak

casks).