Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Turin provincial governments have worked
together with the estate of Franco Balbiano to
resurrect the wine made at the royal retreat;
they call it Villa della Regina (Queen's Villa)
and its fi rst harvest was in 2008.
Freisa has medium-large, cylindrical
bunches, with very long stalks and medium-
sized, oval-round berries. However, intravarie-
tal variability is common with Freisa: I remem-
ber Aldo Conterno, one of the great men of
Barolo (who sadly passed away in June 2012),
liked to call Freisa a “polymorphous” grape, the
bunches of which often look different even on
the same vine. Therefore numerous biotypes of
Freisa exist, the best known of which is the
Freisa grown around the city of Chieri, near
Turin, which has smaller clusters and berries.
Producers have always told me that these phe-
notypic expressions result from differences in
soil and microclimates, rather than genetic dif-
ferences. For example, Chieri has plenty of ven-
tilation and especially clay-sandy soils, while
the soils of Asti are generally more calcareous
and loamy; it's the presence of sand that allows
Freisa to best express its truly remarkable aro-
mas. Because of the great morphologic variabil-
ity and unreliable behavior of Freisa grapevines,
Conterno actually didn't mind clones, which
also have greater resistance to viral diseases
(though his estate owns mainly massal selec-
tions, some fi fty years old). Two of the best
clones available today are CVT 15 and CVT 20;
others are CVT 154, VCR 1, VCR 3, VCR 208,
CVT 157, and CVT 177.
Different clones and biotypes aside, all Frei-
sa grapevines are very resistant to disease,
excessive sun, and inclement weather. Conterno
held a deep-rooted love for the grape, greatly
appreciating its rusticity and disease resistance:
“not only can we harvest it late, even after Neb-
biolo, but it also does well in humid, northeast-
ern exposed sites that would be untenable for
Nebbiolo, Barbera, or other varieties.” Gianni
Voerzio, whose Bastioni Sotto La Morra Freisa
wine may be the best freisa of all (tragically, he
is likely to rip up the vineyard, as the wine
doesn't sell), thinks Freisa is problematic in that
it yields very little naturally, a characteristic that
is worsened by its tendency to undergo fl oral
abortion in the springtime. On the other hand,
he agrees that the variety is remarkably disease
resistant: “You know, in fi fty years of winemak-
ing, I have yet to see a Freisa cluster affected by
botrytis.” Chiara Martinotti, of the high-quality
Gilli estate in Piedmont, well known for excel-
lent Freisa wines, has a slightly different view:
“For reasons I can't explain, fl oral abortion is
not a problem for us, and it's actually very pro-
ductive: if we left Freisa to her own devices,
we'd be covered in grapes here . . . I love it!”
Unfortunately, modern wine drinkers don't
seem similarly smitten, and Freisa's lack of
fashion is causing many growers to replant
with other varieties: 2010 agricultural census
data shows a 30 percent decrease in total hec-
tares planted to Freisa in Italy since 2000. In
my view, as I love both the grape and the wine,
this is nothing short of a tragedy. Once grown
in Lombardy and Veneto, where it is still found
in sporadic rows of vines (especially around
Vicenza in Veneto), Freisa is essentially found
only in Piedmont today (where it makes up only
2 percent of the total grapevine surface), mainly
around Chieri, the Langhe, the Astigiano,
Monferrato, Canavese, and Salluzzese. Freisa
seems to have its share of admirers in the
United States: in California, Bonny Doon,
Viansa, Lucas & Lewellen, and Mandolina have
all planted it at one time or another.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
The best DOC wines are Freisa d'Asti, but also
good are Langhe Freisa and Piemonte Freisa. It
can also be used in blends such as Langhe
Rosso, or DOC wines from Valle d'Aosta,
Veneto (Breganze Rosso), and Tuscany (San
Colombano). It is most often either a still or a
sparkling wine, though there is also a lovely,
but hard to fi nd, Chiaretto di Freisa, a rosé.
I believe Freisa can give magnifi cent wines,
which shouldn't be surprising, considering it is
a very close relative of Nebbiolo. However, the
wine is neither pitch black nor soft and fl eshy;
it's often made in a fi zzy style, and fi zzy red
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