Tasting Notes:
Its ebullient fruit and alluring spice immediately entice you into this wine. This is a vineyard
that needs perfect October weather to mature its thick skins, and when it gets it, rewards
with a striking combination of unctuous structure, lively fruit, and wonderful acid/alcohol
balance. Boysenberry and blackberry are the dominant fruit characters, but there’s also a
sappiness and overlay of baking spices that takes it to another level. In the mouth, the
sweet, ripe tannins frame the fruit, and the moderate alcohol allows the fresh berry to linger
through the finish. The allure of this wine is that it provides the depth and dark tones that
we’ve come to love in coastal pinot, but retains the liveliness that keeps us coming back to
the glass. This is clearly a wine that has many years ahead of it, but the sweet fruit makes it
a great pairing for game bird, veal chops, and rich fish dishes right now.
Vineyard Notes:
FREESTONE’S BACK!! Like us, our closest friends will fondly remember the Freestone
Hill Pinot from 1999 and 2000, and if they’re lucky, still have some in the cellar. The
Vineyard is located on a southeast-facing hillside above the little town of Freestone, on the
far southwest edge of the Russian River appellation. Only a few miles from Bodega Bay,
this area is exceptionally cold, and truly on the climatological edge of wine grape growing.
But in a classic year like 2005, with excellent set conditions (the bugaboo for coastal
vineyards) and superb late ripening weather, it produces fruit of tremendous character and
concentration. Our two blocks at Freestone are planted to Dijon clones 667 (super dense
and juicy boysenberry fruit) and 115 (bright cherry and high tone aromatics), along with a
small amount of 2A (dense tannins and acid backbone). All of the fruit here has tiny berries
and thick skins that result from the unforgiving climate, as does the naturally low tonnage.
When we planted Freestone in 1997 there were no other vineyards in the neighborhood,
but now it’s littered with a who’s who of Pinot producers, and for good reason.
Winemaking Notes:
Freestone is always harvested in two picks–the 115 and 2A at the top of the hill first, while
the steep 667 block in the mid hill comes in a bit later. The individual lots are hand sorted
and destemmed into small open top fermenters and the must is the cold-soaked for 5 days
in order to gently extract color, spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins.
Because of its extremely small berries and thick skins, Freestone sees fewer and gentler
punchdowns than many less demanding vineyards. The lots were barrel aged separately
until March of 2006, when we selected the individual barrels and constructed the final
blend. We love to blend in the early spring to hone the barrel choices to suit the particular
vintage and character of the vineyard. The sweetness of Francois Freres Bertranges and the
solid spice of Taransaud were great matches for this wine. After spending 17 months in
oak, the wine was bottled in February 2007.
Technical Notes:
| Appellation: |
Russian River Valley
|
| Production: |
361 Cases
|
| Alcohol: |
13.8%
|
| Aging: |
Aged 17 months in
French oak
(55% new barrels) |