Quotations of wines 'Renesii' (or similar names) can be found in different areas of Piedmont since 1432 (Statutes of Chieri). For the current traditional producing area (the Roero, located at the north shore of the Tanaro river in the province of Cuneo), the first mention dates back to 1528 (Comba and Dal Verme, 1990). Since then, the name of this cultivar recurs frequently in local historical documents under different variants (Renexij, Ornesio, Arnesi, Arnese) demonstrating the constant presence in Roero until today.

Arneis’ cultivation was reduced to very small spots until the 70s of 1900, when was rediscovered and re-evaluated, as one of the first examples among local varieties almost disappearing being reconsidered. Since that time, Arneis cultivation expanded to reach the current area of around 1000 ha. Plantings are mostly located in Roero and, to a lesser extent, in the Langhe. Very limited spots can be found in other areas of Piedmont. Arneis is not grown outside the region of Piedmont, with the exception of few trials in California, and about 150 ha in Australia (Anderson and Aryal, 2003).

Arneis gives still wines of moderate acidity, rich in alcohol and well structured, provided of floral and fruity scents. It is not much suitable to give sparkling wines because of the hard grape skin and the predominance of tartaric acid in the acidic grape components. More exciting products can be obtained from semi-drying grapes.