Thursday, 13 June 2013

Freisa d'Asti


This is Freisa d'Asti, a varietal wine from the province of Asti in Piedmont. I met this wine at yet another roadshow booth in the shopping mall beneath my flats, and took a picture for this blog, intending to write about Freisa, which I had separately encountered earlier, but it also seems that this wine is also quite interesting in its own right as well.

Freisa probably originated around this area and DNA profiling had recently shown that Freisa has a parent-offspring relationship with Nebbiolo. A vigorous grape, it produces rich tannic wines especially when vinified in the traditional style. With that style, a small amount of residual sweetness was deliberately left to counter the bitterness from its tannins as well as its lees aging. Modern methods keep tannins in check enabling a full dry ferment. Apparently although it is not considered an important grape now, it used to be the premier grape of Piedmont, with a lot grown in other parts of Northern Italy such as Lombardy and Veneto.

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