The Power of Three? Torinese Davide Fregonese unveils his brand new trio of Nebbioli!

• 24 May 2018 /

It’s every Italian’s dream to buy their own vineyard! It is I suppose the Italian equivalent of purchasing a fishing ‘beat’ on a trout river in chalky Hampshire. But for Torinese Davide Fregonese, being Piedmontese, he opted to go for the salmon one instead: a Barolo vineyard! And not just one, & nor in any old place, but Davide went for two vineyards in the noble Nebbiolo-for-Barolo village of Serralunga d’Alba, so upping the ‘beat’ to the Scottish river Tweed, downstream & in spate!

Davide had dreamt the dream for many years, not least because being Piedmontese (first) he had often visited the Langhe & in particular his friend Signor Rosso of Giovanni Rosso, whose family on both sides are rooted in the spectacular viticultural comune of Serralunga d’Alba. Determined to make the dream a reality, Davide Fregonese, held firm when two small plots came up for sale in 2014. One, a 0.6ha plot in the sought after Cerretta vineyard (alongside Giovanni Rosso & Giacomo Conterno among others) is famed for produced a fuller style of Barolo Serralunga from richer soils, while the second piece, an even smaller 0.5ha ‘allotment’ (so to speak), is in ‘primetime’ Prapò – a vineyard that’s ‘upstream’ from Cerretta, where the soil becomes whiter & ‘clearer’; ripe then for making among Serralunga’s more perfumed Barolos.

His resolve to realise the dream is echoed in the name of his Azienda Agricola: ‘Bugianen’ from the Piedmontese dialect ‘Bugia Nen’, meaning ‘Don’t Move/Budge!’, & recalls the key battle of Aisetta in Italian/Piedmontese/Savoia history when on 19th July 1747, 4,800 Austro-Piedmontese soldiers held back 400,000 French, thanks in part to the Piedmontese commander, Giovanni Battista Cacherano di Bricherasio’s order “Bugia Nen!”

Both Barolo wines are made at the new Giovanni Rosso cantina in the heart of Serralunga d’Alba, who also manages the vineyards on Davide’s behalf. Guardians of Serralunga’s noble Nebbioli wines, Giovanni Rosso has revived the ailing old vines & brought Davide’s Barolo wines to life! They also released a third wine, il terzo vino: a Langhe Rosso, 100% Nebbiolo made from declassified Cerretta fruit!

Davide Fregonese will be unveiling his three debut wines: 2016 Langhe Rosso, 2014 Barolo Cerretta, & 2014 Barolo Prapò at the DBGitalia tasting in London on 21st May 2018.