Freisa Nadia Curto 2020

The production of Freisa by Nadia Curto is almost confidential: only about a thousand precious bottles leave the cellar each year. One of Piedmont's oldest and most important varieties, it is now grown almost exclusively in its areas of origin and is capable of lending itself to countless styles of vinification thanks to its marked sensitivity to the surrounding environmental conditions.
The Freisa grapes with which Nadia Curto elaborates this label of hers come from two particularly vocated territories, both extending within the municipality of La Morra and characterised by the peculiar soil composed of Sant'Agata Fossili marl. Annunziata is a hamlet historically famous for the quality of its wines: facing east and south-east, it rises to an altitude of 380 metres above sea level. The upper part of Arborina, facing east, extends to altitudes of around 320 metres and is part of the plot from which the family draws the Nebbiolo for their Barolo. Harvesting of the Freisa normally takes place in the second half of September: the grapes are picked by hand, in small ventilated boxes, and the bunches are taken to the cellar to be crushed and destemmed. Alcoholic fermentation is spontaneous, using only indigenous yeasts, initiated by a pied de cuve made a few days in advance. After about 8 days' maceration, interspersed with manual pumping over and punching down, the Freisa is drawn off into a steel tank where malolactic fermentation takes place and finally racked into used barriques. Ageing in wood continues for a period of 12 months, after which it is bottled in the summer months, without clarification or filtration.
Ruby red is the colour of Nadia Curto's Freisa, with a not too dense and luminous appearance. The nose is greeted by aromas of excellent intensity, varied around motifs of subtle vegetal and fruity texture, with sharp hints of spices. The pronounced character of this red expresses itself through firm tannins, balanced by the right amount of freshness, while the sip recalls suggestions of plums and raspberries and fragrant trails of freshly mown grass.