The 2009 Pinot Noir Freestone Vineyards bursts from the glass with an exciting array of sweet black cherries, herbs, dried flowers, licorice and tar, all supported by lively minerality. This focused, beautifully delineated Pinot is first-class all the way. The Freestone bottling is 53% Pastorale Vineyard and 47% Quarter Moon Vineyard. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2019.
I was deeply impressed with the wines I tasted from Joseph Phelps’s Freestone property on the Sonoma Coast. The Pinots are made with some whole clusters, but it is the distinctive personality of the Calera clones that seems to define those wines. The Chardonnays are both done in a full malolactic style. The Pastorale sees a little bit more time in oak and also gets a slightly higher percentage of new barrels. These beautiful Chardonnays and Pinots deserve considerable attention. The 2010 Chardonnays were scheduled to be bottled in March 2012.
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