The first historical mention known today about Freisa goes back to 1517 and refers to the most typical growing area, the one on the hillside of Turin and the surroundings of Chieri, in Piedmont. Unexpectedly not mentioned by Croce, who at the beginning of 1600 listed the grapes from Turin hill (one of the today’s most typical area of Freisa’s cultivation), Freisa was planted in Neive (Cuneo) at the end of the same century, in a vineyard belonging to the count Cotti, and later in the village of Lu (Alessandria) (Mainardi, 2003). Soon after, Freisa is found in other areas of Piemonte and, since 1800, in almost all the region (Gallesio, 1995).

Although never reaching the role of principal variety in the region (except perhaps in the areas of major cultivation in the surroundings of Turin and Asti), Freisa was very popular because of the generous yield, the resistance to bad weather and the scarce susceptibility to fungus diseases (powdery and downy mildews).

Regarding Freisa’s origin, stated its first degree relationship with Nebbiolo (Schneider et al., 2004), to which is similar for morphological features and grape analytical profile (sharing for example the quite peculiar prevalence of peonidin-glucoside among the anthocyanins), according to Lacombe et al. (2012) it is a likely seedling of Avanà x Nebbiolo. Though possible from historical and geographical perspectives, our genetic data do not completely match such hypothesis, which should be better explored before to be accepted.

Freisa’s culture never was widespread out of Piemonte, where it accounts today for no more than 1000 ha. In the areas of the nearby Lombardy, Oltrepò Pavese and San Colombano, it can also be found, as well as at a limited extend in Vicenza province. In Argentina and California, where it was introduced by Italian immigrants, there are small quantities of Freisa.

The variety called ‘Freisa grossa’ (=‘Large Freisa’) or ‘Freisa di Nizza’ (Monferrato) is a distinct grape corresponding to ‘Neretta cuneese’ (Schneider et al., 2006).

Since the ancient times Freisa had its strenuous supporters (who believed Freisa being among the top quality wines from Piedmont), as well as its determined critics. The reason is perhaps the great amount of tannins, together with a sharp acidity. That is why Freisa’s grape were often considered less suitable to give quality still wines, and therefore used to produce young and fizzy wines, were tannin effect was reduced on taste, and the typical raspberry scent enhanced. However, when grapes and seeds ripen properly, Freisa could offer (often using the “rigoverno” technique with 20% of dried grapes on or off plant) unique wines of great intensity and roundness, with high but soft tannins.