2013 Freeman Akiko’s Cuvée Sonoma Coast—Think cool-climate winemaking elegance and you have the essence of the Freeman wines. Winemaker, Akiko Freeman, grew up in Japan and brings an innate sense of balance to her wine. The cuvée bottling, a blend of the winery’s best barrels each vintage is especially gorgeous with notes of black cherry, violets and earth.

2011 Freeman Akikos Cuvée Pinot Noir. Dark forest floor, raspberry, pomegranate, cherry and cardamom. Wild strawberry married with clean, precise acidity and balance. Cerebral and refined, a wine to drink over dinner.

2011 Freeman Akiko’s Cuvée Pinot Noir. Layers of dark forest floor, raspberry, pomegranate, and cardamom. I love the wild strawberry and purity from clean, precise acidity. Cerebral and refined, a wine to drink over dinner.

Freeman’s 2010 Pinot Noir, Keefer Ranch vineyard showcases what wine lovers fall for in Russian River Valley.

Pinots: The wine is perfumed, large-framed, and palate-flattering, but entwined with a lively cut of acidity that gives it lift and definition. The world’s wine map is porcupine-pinned with producers claiming to bottle “Burgundian” style Pinot Noir, but Freeman has a case to make here—not so much in the juicy Californian ripeness of the fruit, but in the refinement of the wine’s balance. There is a connoisseur’s delicacy behind the obvious pleasure....