Freisa: Nebbiolo's Rustic Relative and Turin's Old Favourite Red
Sweet and fizzy in old Turin taverns, dry and tannic in Barolo cellars: the strawberry-named grape enjoying a second youth.
Il Vino Bello ·
Ask for a Freisa in an old Turin trattoria and you may be poured something pale ruby, gently fizzing and a little sweet. Ask in a Barolo cellar and you could get a still, dry red with real grip. Both are right. Freisa is one of Piemonte's oldest red grapes, and after decades in the shadow of Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto it is enjoying what Gambero Rosso called, in January 2026, "una seconda giovinezza": a second youth.
A Strawberry Name and a 1517 Price Tag
The name, Gambero Rosso explains, comes from fresia in Piedmontese dialect, or fraise in French: strawberry. The first written record is a customs document from Pancalieri dated 1517, which, according to Gazzetta del Gusto, put Freisa at twice the price of ordinary wine.
From the 1700s and right through the 1800s, wines from Freisa dominated what was drunk in Turin and the hills around the city, and most of them were sweet, like many prized wines of the time (Gambero Rosso). Gazzetta del Gusto adds that around the turn of the 19th century Freisa was confirmed among Piemonte's first-quality black grapes, and that growers at one point planted more of it for its strong resistance to downy mildew. Then the region bet on other varieties, the frizzante style went out of fashion, and Freisa faded. Gambero Rosso dates its comeback to roughly the last twenty years.
Nebbiolo's Rustic Relative
For a long time Freisa was lumped together with Nebbiolo. The most recent studies, Gambero Rosso writes, show they are not the same grape, "ma c'è di sicuro uno stretto rapporto familiare" (but there is certainly a close family relationship). Decanter reported in 2019 that genetic studies point to a parent and offspring link, and quoted Ian D'Agata: "Freisa is more likely Nebbiolo's parent."
Decanter describes "mouth-watering acidity" and a wine that is "adamantly tannic", while Gambero Rosso warns that its tannic imprint can sometimes turn slightly bitter. Opinions have always split: Wikipedia's entry records Hugh Johnson finding Freisa "immensely appetizing" and Robert Parker calling the wines "totally repugnant". The same entry notes two forms of the vine, a small-berried Freisa Piccola, which is the more widely planted, and a larger-berried Freisa Grossa, or Freisa di Nizza, usually found on flatter, more fertile ground.
Sweet, Fizzy, Dry or Still
Freisa is grown on almost 1,000 hectares and spread across seven DOCs, according to Gazzetta del Gusto. Gambero Rosso names them: Freisa di Chieri, Freisa d'Asti, Colli Tortonesi Freisa, Langhe Freisa, Monferrato Freisa, Pinerolese Freisa and the regional Piemonte DOC. It is also allowed as a minor partner, up to 15 per cent, in other well-known denominations.
The two oldest are Freisa d'Asti, recognised in 1972, and Freisa di Chieri, a DOC since 1973. The Freisa d'Asti rules ask for at least 90 per cent Freisa from the hills of the province of Asti and allow four types: the base wine, a frizzante, a spumante and a Superiore. The Superiore spends at least six months in wood and cannot be sold before 1 November of the year after the harvest. Freisa di Chieri Superiore needs at least a year of ageing, six months of it in barrel (Italian Wine Central).
Freisa was long best known off-dry and more or less sparkling. Today, Gambero Rosso writes, the dry and still versions are the ones having the most success.
Where It Grows: Turin's Hills, Asti and the Langhe
The best-suited areas are still the historic ones, the hills around Turin and the Monferrato of Asti and Alessandria, on calcareous and clay soils in temperate climates (Gambero Rosso). Chieri has its own consorzio for Freisa di Chieri and the Collina Torinese, which its president Matteo Rossotto describes as "piccolo ma molto dinamico", small but very dynamic. Its festival, Di Freisa in Freisa, reached its sixteenth edition on 23 and 24 May 2026, with 24 local wineries pouring.
Turin even has a Freisa vineyard inside the city. At Villa della Regina, the seventeenth-century Savoy villa, Cantine Balbiano replanted the historic royal vineyard in 2003: about 2,700 vines, mostly Freisa, on 0.73 hectares. The first official vintage was 2009, and the 2011 vintage gave its first Freisa di Chieri Superiore. Balbiano calls it the only urban vineyard in Italy producing a certified DOC cru.
In the Langhe, Freisa survives in small parcels next to Nebbiolo. Brezza makes a still, dry Langhe Freisa from 0.31 hectares in Barolo, and Francesco Rinaldi replanted its 0.35 hectares in the Rocche vineyard of La Morra in 2020 for its Langhe Freisa. The first vintage of Arnaldo Rivera's Freisa was 2021.
Bottles to Look For
Several wines on the site made Gambero Rosso's January 2026 selection of the best Freisa: Kyè from G.D. Vajra, the Langhe Freisa from Cavallotto, the Freisa d'Asti from Frasca La Guaragna, Scarpa's Monferrato Freisa and Finibus Terrae from Terre dei Santi.
- Still and serious. Vajra describes Kyè as made dry and still since 1989 from two estate vineyards planted in 1980 and 1989. Cavallotto's comes from a parcel inside the Bricco Boschis cru and spends 12 to 15 months in Slavonian oak. Giuseppe Mascarello makes Toetto in Castiglione Falletto.
- Lively and traditional. Cascina Gilli in Castelnuovo Don Bosco bottles its frizzante Luna di Maggio in May, and Terre dei Santi, in the same village, makes a Freisa di Chieri Frizzante.
- Still Freisa d'Asti. Cascina Gilli's Il Forno was the estate's first label, in 1985; Tenuta Olim Bauda ages its Freisa d'Asti Superiore in large French oak.
- For right now. Terre dei Santi's Castelnovello, a Freisa and Barbera novello, is released in early November and meant for drinking by the following spring.
Try a still Langhe Freisa next to a young Nebbiolo from the same cellar: the family resemblance, and the difference, is the whole story.
Sources
- https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/vino/degustazioni/migliori-freisa-2026-guida/ (31 January 2026)
- https://www.gazzettadelgusto.it/vino/associazione-piu-freisa-intervista-a-domenico-capello/ (27 February 2024)
- https://www.decanter.com/learn/what-is-freisa-wine-ask-decanter-422271/ (13 August 2019)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freisa
- https://aisitalia.it/Disciplinari/Piemonte/DOC/Freisa%20d'Asti.pdf
- https://italianwinecentral.com/denomination/freisa-di-chieri-doc/
- https://www.tastinglife.it/2026/05/19/di-freisa-in-freisa-2026-chieri-dedica-il-weekend-del-23-e-24-maggio-al-vitigno-simbolo-della-collina-torinese/ (19 May 2026)
- https://www.balbiano.com/progetti/vigna-della-regina