Articles - Freeman Winery

Club Oenologique Magazines

On Sonoma’s appellation trail

Adam Lechmere

November 2024

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...West Sonoma Coast producers are familiar to a certain type of wine lover: Hirsch, Failla, Littorai, DuMol, Paul Hobbs, Peay, Freeman and Cobb. In Pursuit of Balance, a crusade to bring restraint to California Pinot and Chardonnay, originated here. Many vineyards are long-established: Cobb Coastlands and BA Theriot (of which more later) were planted in 1989, Peay in 1998, Hirsch in the early ‘80s.

Andy Peay, who bought a sheep ranch in the mid-1990s and planted to Chardonnay and Pinot, says the weather can be ‘frankly hostile’. His Chardonnay is intense, ripe and precise with an oyster-shell texture. Yields are low – ‘we’re not interested in big and bold,’ he says.

That attitude is echoed by Eiji Akaboshi, associate winemaker at Freeman. He beams at the notion that the exceptional, velvety Yu-ki Estate Pinot Noir has the rustic edge of a Pommard or Nuits-St-George but says they are by no means in thrall to Burgundy; nor is consultant winemaker Jeff Gaffner at Black Kite, who produces Pinot Noirs of noticeable ripeness and opulence. ‘We extract pretty aggressively early on,’ he says....