Winemaker Notes
#2 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
The 2021 Freestone-Occidental is a very bright, high toned, marine influenced wine that could only have come from their ridgetop vineyards. Crystalline, vivid, mouth watering, with a salty mineral finish, the 2021 Freestone-Occidental evokes juicy red/purple berries and a near perfect balance of finesse and energy with beautifully sculpted tannins.
Its modest alcohol makes this wine a perfect complement to any meal.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental is incredibly expressive and detailed! Its aromas open slowly from blueberry, rhubarb and cranberry to tones of bitter orange, amaro, mossy bark and lavender, continuing to reveal new accents with each return to the glass. Light-bodied, it floods the mouth with fragrant, detailed fruit supported by chalky tannins and focused, shimmery acidity that calls you in for another sip. It has a haunting finish loaded with spicy layers, and it's very difficult to put this delicious wine down. Drink it now for its transparency and perfume, or allow it to develop savory complexity in bottle over the next decade.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A youthful deep ruby, the 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental is highly expressive with wild lavender, kirsch, and fresh mountain herbs. Full-bodied, with youthful suppleness to its fruit at this stage, it has the same fantastic salinity that’s present across this whole lineup Occidental.
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Wine Spectator
Boasts blackberry and plum fruit enlivened by a light savory thread, while anise and iris notes add range through the sleek, tangy finish. Shows a nice underlying mineral edge, which adds subtle tension throughout. Refined. Drink now through 2030.
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James Suckling
Crunchy and vivid with plenty of energy, focusing on the strawberry and raspberry character with a slight umami undertone that suggests that this comes from near the sea on the West Sonoma Coast. Lively acidity and integrated tannins.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.