The Enigma of Freisa with Ca Del Prete

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Springtime is fully upon us, and as I sit in my office looking out on a perfectly sunny, warm day, a thought enters my mind:

“What defines a ‘summertime’, chillable red wine?”

When I think of “chillable reds”, the grape that comes to mind is Freisa.

I know what you are thinking: “Of course, a wine nerd is going to pick an obscure grape, not many people are familiar with.”

And you would certainly be right. But it just happened that “Pax” winery, which I would frequent on the weekends while living in Sonoma County, had a drinkable Freisa by the reusable 1L bottle. I assumed that all this grape was light-bodied with still present, almost dusty tannins, fruit-forward and crushable within a nice sunny afternoon.

Then I tasted the Giuseppe Mascarello “Toletto” Freisa. And it was a far departure from what I knew Freisa to be at the time.

My mind raced, and I had to know more. How to uncover the essence of this obscure ancient varietal?

The opportunity soon came in the form of a visit to Ca del Prete, located in Pino d’Asti, the heartland of Freisa. I sat down with Luca Ferrero, the modern master of Freisa, to taste his diverse portfolio and learn precisely what this mysterious grape is.

Read the Ca Del Prete Producer Profile on Between 2 Worlds.

The Visit

“Freisa is a rustic grape,” Luca says with admiration, as Freisa is his pride and joy. The ancient grape, the predecessor and likely parent of Nebbiolo, has been grown in Asti and its surroundings since the 16^th century.

We sit on a charming balcony overlooking a large backyard, with the woods and the hills as a backdrop. It is a bright and sunny day, but with that classic Piemontese chill that is so refreshing. In front of us is a full portfolio of Ca del Prete wines, with Freisa as the primary grape. We start with “Malve”, the playful blend of Freisa and red Malvasia di Schierano (red) in a “Rosato” style. Even in this wine, you can feel the distinct character of Freisa, with a tannic grip that lets the aromatic Malvasia shine in the high notes. It is indeed an “easy drinking wine”, but not necessarily “glou glou”, as it displays a distinct palate presence and depth of flavor that any wine lover can view as complexity.

Luca’s Pino D’Asti

I note to myself that there seems to be a natural connection between Freisa and Pino D’Asti, the charming village where Ca del Prete is located. With somewhere between 200 and 250 residents occupying the village, Pino D’Asti lacks any sort of pretension that one may find in the villages of Barolo and Barbaresco. The Pino D’Asti is picturesque, rustic, and ancient.

For Luca, memories of Pino D’Asti are connected to his grandparents. When Luca was young and lived outside of Torino, he would visit his grandparents in Pino D’Asti and become connected to the village and its signature grape. Later in his 20s, Luca would visit his father, who worked as a mechanic in Pino D’Asti. Eventually, Luca would become the cellar assistant at his family’s winery, and in 2014, would officially take over the project.

Now living in Chieri, about 20 kilometers away, Ca Del Prete is Luca’s second home.

Ca Del Prete- Name and Viticulture

The name “Ca del Prete” translates to the “House of the Priest,” an homage to the farmhouse which was once connected to an ancient rectory.

Though Ca del Prete has always been focused on organic viticulture, attaining one of the first organic certifications in Italy in 1988, the production hasn’t always been artisanal, relying on cultured yeasts and commercial practices. Luca saw that in 2000, the winery made a full shift to a more natural approach and continued to improve on the initial formula of low-intervention, minimalist viticulture.

Vineyard Land

Ca del Prete has 4.5 hectares of vines, with Freisa planted at the most ideal exposures alongside Barbera, Malvasia di Schierano, Nebbiolo, and Cortese for whites. In the vineyard, Luca practices organic farming to ensure the soil’s flora and fauna are healthy. Vines are planted alongside wild herbs and grass, and various natural insects and worms contribute to the vineyard ecosystem. Although still using some copper treatment on the vines, Luca has dedicated himself to reducing the amounts progressively, introducing other alternative options like Chabasite Zeolite to deal with mold and mildew.

Vineyard Images

The Freisa Ideology

On this idyllic November day, we continue to chat about Freisa as we taste Ca del Prete’s wines. We move on from Malve to Blenda, Luca’s entry-level red offering. When it comes to modern Freisa, at least from Ca del Prete’s perspective, drinkability is a pertinent topic. I share with Luca my previous experience tasting Freisa from some of the region’s most esteemed producers, like Mascarello and Rinaldi, and being thrown for a loop on the wines’ intensity and tannic structure.

And while undoubtedly both Luca and I respect the quality of wine put out by those stalwarts of Piedmonte wine, we both admit that on a day-to-day basis, we would drink something else. And Blenda, with rich red fruit complemented by 20% stem inclusion and aged in stainless steel and concrete, is an ideal example of that approachable balance that Freisa can strike. A pleasant and outgoing wine, balancing fruitiness, slightly stalky but fine tannins, and a green vegetal character brought on by the stem inclusion and by the nature of the grape itself.

Luca is looking for a little bit of “greenness” in Freisa, not to the point of fault, but enough to craft unique and complex multifaceted wines

A particular standout is Lucas’ 2022 Un Poco Dopo un Ferragosto, translated roughly to “A little after the Ferragosto” (August Fair, an Italian national “Grilling” holiday)”. Perhaps more “serious in nature”, this wine swaps Freisa’s intense fruit for a more earthy, flinty, slightly smoky core. Luca achieves this by allowing the wine to macerate on skins for over 5 months. However, in 2022, due to a horrendous 2023 vintage where almost 100% of the grapes were lost, Luca let Un Poco Dopo un Ferragosto to stay on lees for a full year. Oddly enough, this did not make the wine unbearably tannic.

This is where Luca’s experience gained from multiple stints in Sicily, Carso, and Langhe, working under some of the viticulture’s visionaries, came through.

In fact, given more time, the skins will reabsorb some of the tannins released into the wine, making Un Poco Dopo un Ferragosto a much more elegant and softer wine than otherwise expected.

Finally, we tasted 2020 Casot, a more classic version of Freisa, with red fruit, graphite, black pepper, and a strong balsamic core. This wine had a bit more mid-palate, provided by more use of barrique.

It was tough to say anything conclusively at the end. But you could tell that Ca del Prete’s wines lean into Freisa’s characteristic “rusticity” and are perfectly able to highlight the grape’s distinct character and a variety of styles.

Conclusion: The Freisa Connundrum

If there was one takeaway from my visit with Luca, it is that Ca del Prete is a charming place to visit, and Pino d’Alba is a diamond in the rough, a place you can escape if you want to get out of the hustle and bustle of city life. And though this is not the focus, I found Luca charming, just as I did his wines.

But what of Freisa? Was I able to understand this unique variety and its complexity? I certainly felt a lot more comfortable with the grape. Perhaps it is Nebbiolo’s more rustic cousin, but in the hands of Lucca Ferrero, with a more natural (but precise) approach, Freisa can shift and change character, making it more accessible while still maintaining complexity and depth.

Learn More about Freisa Here