The 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir has a clear, deep ruby color.
Beautifully layered aromas of fresh wild blackberry and herbs such as sage, thyme and mint.
The lively flavor is full of strong acidity, plum, rhubarb and cola.
This leads to a pleasantly textured finish, fully expressing the strengths of 2018.
Best to drink until around 2029.
2018 was an ideal vintage from budbreak to harvest.
For example, in normal years, there may be some weather uncertainty, such as a sudden drop in temperature in May, resulting in a sharp drop in yields, or extreme heat in August and September, which may force the harvest to be brought forward.
But 2018 was not to be.
The yield was high, the vines were very healthy and the grapes were of very good quality.
This was even better than the great vintage of 2012, and the best vintage in Freeman's 17 years of winemaking.
This Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is made with grapes from two unique vineyards.
One is in the southwest corner of the Sonoma Coast AVA and the other is in the northwest corner.
Yuki Estate, one of the winery's two own vineyards, began cultivation in 2018 and has since harvested over 40 tons of excellent Pinot Noir.
The vineyard is located just above the town of Occidental and is the coolest site planted with the 2A, 23, 114, 667, Calera and Mount Eden clones featured in this wine.
Since 2010, Freeman has also been using Dijon clone 777, grown at Campbell Ranch near the town of Annapolis in the northwest corner of Sonoma County.
The vineyard is managed by the Valdez family, who grow the grapes that have always played an important role in the creation of these Sonoma Coast wines.
Unfortunately, Ulisses Valdes, who had been the winemaker for many years, passed away in the middle of the 2018 vintage.
Freeman Vineyards & Winery was founded in 2001 by Ken Freeman and his wife Akiko, a Roppongi native.
Fifteen years ago, when the two had just met, they hit it off as lovers of elegant and sophisticated Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and dreamed of one day producing wines in California that had the complex flavor and captivating power of Burgundy.
In order to establish a winery that can rival the world, we will begin inspecting over 300 vineyards and farms, focusing on vineyards planted on cool, gentle slopes.
As a result, they chose Sonoma Valley, a region shrouded in fog and influenced by cool sea breezes blowing inland from the coast.
The grapes grown there ripen slowly, retaining fresh acidity and resulting in great purity and flavour.
When Freeman was founded in the 2000s, California was in the midst of a boom in the production and consumption of fruit-forward wines, but the company remained uninfluenced by such trends and stuck to its belief of brewing well-balanced, elegant wines based on organic farming.
As a result, Freeman's wine style began to attract attention not only in California but also around the world, and its wines were included on the wine lists of famous restaurants around the world, growing into a small but well-known brand.
In April 2015, a bottle of Ryofu Chardonnay from the 2013 vintage was served at the White House official dinner hosted by former President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, catapulting the wine into the limelight.
As of 2019, Akiko is the only Japanese female winemaker and owner of a winery and vineyard in California, and she continues to produce modest, sharp, high-quality wines.