Neretta Cuneese: a rare Piedmontese red from independent growers

Neretta Cuneese wine is one of Piedmont's least-travelled grapes — a thick-skinned red that produces structured, darkly fruited wines in the province of Cuneo. The producers below grow and bottle it themselves.

A deeply coloured, tannic variety grown almost exclusively in the hills south of Turin.

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Neretta Cuneese

Neretta Cuneese wines

Neretta Cuneese is a native Piedmontese variety that never made it out of the Cuneo hills in any quantity. It ripens late, produces deep colour and firm tannin, and was historically blended rather than bottled on its own. The producers here are among the small number who grow it as a variety worth bottling — each shipping directly from their own cellar, with no importer or warehouse in between.

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Neretta Cuneese mixboxes

A mixbox from one of these producers is their own six-bottle recommendation, put together as they would if you visited the cellar. For a grape this rare, that often means tasting the same variety across different vintages or plots, where the shifts in season and site become the whole point. Free Grape Society is a society of producers, independent experts and wine lovers, not a shop.

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Wineries

Neretta Cuneese survives because a handful of growers in Piedmont decided it was worth keeping. The producers below work with it alongside Piedmont's better-known varieties, and their notes explain how they think about it — what it needs in the vineyard, how they vinify it, and what they think it tastes like. The wine-advice service is there if you want a conversation before choosing.

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Wine experts

Independent wine experts review wines they have personally tasted, and those reviews appear on each wine page and on the expert's own profile. Several of the experts below have tasted Neretta Cuneese wines from the producers on this page, so you can see their notes before deciding.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I order a Neretta Cuneese wine on Free Grape Society?

Find a wine on this page, add it to your basket, and complete the order through the checkout. Payment is handled securely via Klarna or card. The producer ships your bottles directly from their cellar in Piedmont, with no warehouse stop in between. Free shipping is included, and delivery typically takes between four and fourteen days.

What happens if a bottle arrives broken or doesn't taste right?

Send a photo to Free Grape Society customer support within 7 days of delivery. We will arrange a replacement or a refund. Because producers ship directly, quality issues are handled with the producer's direct involvement. Shared responsibility is built into how FGS works.

Can I order more than one Neretta Cuneese wine in a single delivery?

Yes. If you order wines from different producers, each producer ships their own bottles separately. You pay once at checkout, and the deliveries arrive from each cellar independently. There is no minimum order beyond a single bottle, and free shipping applies to each producer's consignment.

How long does delivery take?

Average delivery is 8 to 9 days from order to door. The full range is 4 to 14 days depending on the producer's location and your delivery address. Wines ship directly from the producer's cellar, not from a central warehouse.

How do I choose between different Neretta Cuneese wines on the page?

Neretta Cuneese is rare enough that the producer and their approach matter more than appellation distinctions. Read each producer's own notes — they explain how they grow and vinify the grape, which tells you a lot about what is in the bottle. If you want a second opinion, check whether an independent wine expert has reviewed a specific wine before you decide.

Is Neretta Cuneese always a red wine, or does it come in other styles?

Neretta Cuneese is a red variety and is bottled almost exclusively as a still red wine. It produces deep colour and firm tannin, which makes it better suited to extended maceration and structured winemaking than to rosé or lighter styles. Some producers blend it; others bottle it as a varietal wine. The page shows what is currently available from the growers on Free Grape Society.

Which Neretta Cuneese wine expert can recommend something for me?

The independent wine experts on Free Grape Society review wines they have personally tasted, and some specialise in Italian and Piedmontese varieties. Check the experts section on this page to see who has reviewed Neretta Cuneese wines, and read their notes. If you want a direct recommendation, you can submit a question to a wine expert through the advice form.

Why don't you sell supermarket-brand Neretta Cuneese wines?

Neretta Cuneese is a rare, late-ripening variety grown in small quantities by individual estates in the Cuneo hills. Large commercial producers do not work with it at scale, so supermarket-label versions do not really exist. The wines on this page come from the growers who cultivate it seriously and bottle it under their own name — which is the only context in which it is worth drinking.

Can I find Neretta Cuneese wines in specialist wine shops across Europe?

Occasionally, yes — a specialist Italian wine shop may stock one or two examples. But because the variety is rare and produced in small quantities, distribution outside Piedmont is patchy. Ordering directly from the producer through Free Grape Society is the most reliable way to find it, and you get the producer's own selection rather than whatever a retailer has chosen to import.

Where Neretta Cuneese comes from and what makes it rare

Neretta Cuneese is a red grape variety from Piedmont, grown in the Cuneo province in the southwestern corner of the region. It belongs to the broader family of native Piedmontese varieties that includes better-known names like Nebbiolo and Barbera, but Neretta Cuneese has remained stubbornly local, planted in small quantities by growers who value it for its role in blends and, increasingly, as a standalone variety. The name reflects its origins directly: "cuneese" means simply "from Cuneo." It is a thin-skinned grape that ripens relatively early and produces wines with bright acidity and lively red fruit character. Because it has never been commercially scaled, almost every bottle in existence comes from an independent producer working with estate fruit — which is exactly the kind of wine Free Grape Society was built around. Growers curious about Piedmont's broader range can explore Piedmont wines or look at what producers from across Italy are doing with their native varieties.

How Neretta Cuneese tastes and what to drink it with

Wines made from Neretta Cuneese tend to be medium-bodied with fresh acidity, relatively light tannin, and aromas that lean toward red cherry, wild strawberry, and a faint earthy note that is typical of Piedmontese reds. The variety is used both in blends — where it historically contributed colour and acidity — and increasingly as a single-variety wine, where its personality comes through more clearly. Its brightness and relatively gentle structure make it a versatile match at the table: it works well alongside cured meats, hard mountain cheeses, mushroom dishes, and the kind of hearty northern Italian cooking that characterises the Cuneo area. If you enjoy it, varieties with a similar profile are worth exploring: Freisa, Grignolino, and Dolcetto are all native Piedmontese grapes that share some of that fresh, food-friendly character.

Buying Neretta Cuneese direct from independent producers

Because Neretta Cuneese is not widely distributed outside Piedmont, finding it through conventional retail channels is difficult. Most commercial importers do not carry it, and large wine warehouses have little incentive to list a variety with minimal name recognition. On Free Grape Society, producers ship wines directly from their own cellars, with no importer or warehouse in between — which is the reason a grape like Neretta Cuneese can appear here at all. The wines are tasted before listing, and independent wine experts review bottles they have personally tried, so you can read their notes before deciding. Free Grape Society is a society of producers, independent experts and wine lovers, not a shop. For those who want to explore further, the Piedmont mixboxes page shows producer selections from the region, and the Piedmont wineries page lists every Piedmontese grower currently on the platform.