Thoughts about Freisa?

I’m curious about Freisa. Every time I encounter a Vajra Kye, I remind myself that I need to try it. But then I get distracted and buy some Nebbiolo sitting next to it. What am I missing? Any recommendations in addition to the Vajra?

Ol’ Wikipedia tells me that “Robert M. Parker, Jr. describ[ed] Freisa as producing ‘totally repugnant wines’”… which means I will probably enjoy them.

That’s funny. Vajra Kye came up tonight at a truffle dinner where I used Vajra Barolo with Pheasant Crepinette and white truffles. I will try it this week and post a note!

Vajra makes the best “serious” version. You should also try the other low end versions. Some can have a little fizz. Not easy to find but I really like the wine.

Cantina del Pino
Cavollotto
Burolotto
Borgogno
Brovia
G.Rinaldi-maybe one of the best bottles of wine I have tasted all year, gifted to me after a visit

The Vajra Kye is quite good. A bit dark, oaked, and modernish, though (I know that’s considered the ultimate sin around here). It does smooth out with some medium term age, I think, and it does have a lot of Piemonte / nebbiolo character to it.

The one I tried that was shockingly worse than I expected was G. Mascarello. Really a poor 70-something point caliber wine, though I only had one bottle, and I suppose maybe it was a bad bottle? It was only around $20 in the US.

I’m sure I’ve had a few others, but those are the two I remember well, and Kye is the only one I’ve bought in recent years.

I’m really enjoying the Rinaldi 2011 at the moment, terrific wine.

Freisa is wonderful. Burlotto is probably my favourite producer of Freisa. I’ve also had fantastic bottles by Bartolo Mascarello over the years. Beppe Rinaldi, as Gary and Tom have pointed out - brilliant.
(Vajra’s Kye has very little to do with my idea of Freisa, though.)

I have had shockingly good and absolutely terrible, but to be honest, I drink it only when it is served, and so I do not keep tabs on the producers. (It shows up quite often here at holiday lunches in osterie and trattorie, where the fixed price per head includes wines.) I have had the Kye, and I do believe it to be atypical, although well-made in its style. It will be interesting to see the topic developed here, because I am sure that there are some good ones out there, and I suspect that the best will probably come from less well-known producers. This could be something that Oliver McCrum will have some good thoughts on…

I’ve hated every one I’ve tried. I don’t remember all the producers but Cavalotto was definitely one since I remember having it at the winery.

Bartolo Mascarello’s has not been mentioned yet here. Tasted at the winery I liked it a lot and bought a few.
I liked it better than the Vajra (tasted at the winery the same day).

Bartolo and Giuseppe make a more classic, fresher, lighter style. The Vajra really is a style preference for sure. The 2009 Vajra needs A LOT of time to open up and ease back.
I’ve not big on the Cavalotto, I’d rather drink one of the Mascarellos.

I would agree with the Bartolo suggestion followed by older Vajra and then Cavallotto…

Yup…Freisa can be a terrific wine. It’s a cross between Nebbiolo and some unknown (probably extinct) parent. It can have, often,
some of that perfumed fragrance that makes Nebb so great.
Randall used to have some planted in his Soledad vnyd and made a quite pretty sparkling wine, but has since pulled it out (alas).
LouisLucas has some planted in his LosAlamos vnyd that I have on tap to try.
Tom



TN on two I recently had:
7. CascinaGilli Vigna del Forno DOC: Freisa d’Asti (13.5%) GianniVergnano/Castelnuovo Don Bosco 2009: Med.color; very
fragrant/perfumed/floral/roses.lilacs bit Nebb-like slight tarry/earthy/stony nose; rather tart some floral/roses
slight tarry/earthy/stony bit coarse/rustic flavor w/ rather hard/rough tannins; long somewhat floral/lilacs/roses
slight tarry/earthy/stony bit rustic/coare finish w/ rather hard/bitey tannins; a lovely aromatic nose much like
Nebb but pretty rough/coarse/tannic on the palate. $18.00 (WoP) An OliverMcCrum wine

8. Cantina del Pino RenatoVacca DOC: Langhe Freisa (12.5%; EB; Sparkling) Barbaresco 2006: Med.color w/ slight
   bricking; very fragrant/perfumed rather floral/lilacs bit tarry/licorice/Nebb-like slight soda pop/Lambrusco-like
   nose; some frizzante/fizzy dry/austere/tannic light floral/rose/lilacs rather coarse/earthy bit soda-poppy
   flavor; med.short some floral/rose/lilacs slight tarry/earthy/coarse rather austere/tannic/bitey finish; a bit
   like Lambrusco but rather hard/bitey/coarse tannins; lovely nose but hurts on the palate. $19.00 (BWM)

I;ve had consistently good experiences with the Cavalotto and the G. Rinaldi, in addition to the Vajra, but there comes a point where pricing becomes an issue…

I had the 12 G Rinaldi at the winery last month and it was killer. They were bottling it that day. My first experience with Freisa and I was an immediate convert.

I must remember not to use my invisible ink the next time I post

ooops!

This about sums it up, I think. I had the '97 last year and, at 15 years of age, it was an interesting wine, but there was absolutely nothing Freisa-like about it.

(It’s probably just because I am awfully circumscribed, but to me the idea of vinifying Freisa as a “serious” and structured wine that must be aged for a long time is a bit like the idea of a light, breezy, cheerful, basketful-of-fresh-strawberries-style, refreshing Barolo for near-term consumption, to be drunk slightly chilled on a hot summer afternoon.)

All good info so far, thank you. The Rinaldi appears to be unavailable in the US. Is it not imported? I encountered similar trouble trying to find the Ruche.

What percentage of Freisa is in Aldo Conterno’s Langhe Rosso, and how does it compare to those mentioned above?

Apparently, Giacomo Conterno and Gaja both produced Freisa in past years.

I’ve had some very good wines made of Freisa. I think of it as a specialty of the Asti area, although a number of Barolo producers do produce it as a curiosity. I agree that Beppe Rinaldi’s is very good, and Cavallotto’s too.

I love a good Grignolino, too, but there aren’t many of them.

… or a good Pelaverga. The funny thing is, I’ve had a number of tasty Pelaverga wines over the years, but the only reliably good producer I can think of right now is Castello di Verduno. Must be due to the fact that sometimes I don’t even bother to check the label. I’ll never forget a meal in a small roadside restaurant in the hills very close to the Sacra di San Michele. Not the kind of place where you ask to see the wine list. The owner/waiter just brought a bottle of some obscure locally made Pelaverga to go with an excellent, simple, local lamb dish. Didn’t seem to make too much sense to check the home-printed label. It was a very good wine, though, and really went down a treat with the lamb.

Come to think of it, I think I tend to be drawn to wines like Freisa, Pelaverga, Grignolino (and countless other local “curiosities”, just trying to keep this already somewhat rambling reflection relatively manageable:-) ) precisely because they take me back to a younger, less “knowledgeable”, but probably much less jaded and much more open and impressionable, version of myself (or, rather, my palate ), before I started obsessing about wine. Meadow, grove, stream - kind of .