Freisa is a red Italian wine grape variety grown in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy, primarily in Monferrato and in the Langhe, but also further north in the provinces of Turin and Biella.
By the 1880s it had become one of the major Piedmontese grapes, and in that period its cultivation was stimulated by the vine's resistance to the downy mildew caused by the Plasmopara viticola fungus.
In the Canavese there is also a rosé which can be made primarily from Freisa according to Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) regulations.
Plantings of Freisa in the Piedmont region date back to at least the 18th century and ampelographers believe that the grape likely originated there in the hills between Asti and Turin.
[2] Modern winemaking technology has introduced techniques to minimize some of the bitter tannins and ferment the wine fully dry.
[2] Freisa is seen rarely outside of its Piedmont homeland, though there are a few hundred acres of the vine planted in Argentina carried over to South America by Italian immigrants.