Typical Products of the Langhe > Wine > Vines > Cuneese Neretta vine

The fine wines of the Langhe > Vines > Cuneese Neretta vine

Neretta, Neretto (Monregalese, Cuneese and Saluzzesi hills), Freisa (Fresa) or thick Freisa or Freisone or Nizza Freisa (Pinorelese, Susa Valley, and some Astigiano areas), brown Freisa (Astigiano), Cavaglià Neretto (Serra d’Ivrea), Beinale Neretto. Sometimes, by mistake, it is considered Bonarda.

Geographic distribution

It is present, sometimes consistently, in the entire Piedmont, both in intensively viticultural and rather marginal areas. The largest extension of Cuneese Neretta is located on Cuneese, Saluzzese, and Pinerolese hills and alluvial plans, besides Susa Valley. It is authorized for the provinces of Cuneo and Turin.

Morphological characters

Bud: greenish yellow, with slightly rosy edges, scarcely lanuginose, apex; cup-leaned, golden yellow, coppered, apex leaves; green, with copper shades, inferiorly lanuginose, with slightly bristled nervations, basal leaves. Its bud is red in its apex and dorsal part. Adult leaf: medium-large or large, between pentagonal and cuneiform, tri- or more rarely five-lobed; its border has a shiny surface, which is bubbly between its main and secondary nervations; its colour is dark green, with a red nervation base; its profile is plan; its teeth are medium-short, with convex or concave/convex margins; its central womb is closed (2 cm), U+V-shaped; its superior lateral wombs are often with a tooth; its inferior page has more or less abundantly bristly nervations. Ripened grape: medium-large, cylindrical, with wee-evident wings, very compact; its peduncle is medium-short, violet-red coloured. Acinus: large, between spherical and short ellipsoidal, with a very much pruinose, very thick, of a blue-black colour, with a grey shade, peel.

Phenology 

Germination: medium-late.
Flowering: medium-late.
Turning to dark colour: medium-late.
Grape maturation: medium-late (contemporaneous to Barbera).

Cultural attitudes and utilization

It is a vine of moderate vigour, but of a constantly high fertility and productivity. This is the reason for its spreading in all the more or less marginal viticultural areas. On the contrary, although its maturation is not particularly late, when the productive load, per stump, is excessive, it gives modest-quality grapes, for its scarce sugar content, lacking also as far as colour. Moreover, this vine is often attacked by viruses. Although it is compact, its grape seems rather tolerant to mould and rot. Nowadays, Cuneese Neretta vine is mixed with other grapes. 
Vigour: medium. 
Fertility: medium-high, although it is scarce at basal gem level. 
Productivity: very high (more than 1.5 kg of grapes/m2), tending to alternate; productive femminelle. 
Shoot carriage: horizontal; its buds have long inter-nodes.

DOC Langa wines which are produced from this vine:

Langhe White wine

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