2021 Freestone Occidental Pinot Noir
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Tasting Notes
We tasted this after the 2020 single-vineyard expressions, and the difference is immediate – lots of this is destined for restaurants and as their “village” equivalent, it’s designed to be drunk earlier than the other bottlings. It’s open and expressive bright cherry fruit and mouth-watering salinity. It’s got all the delicacy that you expect of the Occidental wines, with pretty floral aromatics. Energizing and vibrant, with fine tannins and a beautifully long finish. Cate and Steve feel this is their best vintage to date – and it’s hard to disagree. It’s just 13.3% alcohol, with around 20% new oak, and irresistible.
Critic Scores
Erin Brooks, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
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.
About the producer
Steve Kistler is a man who needs little introduction. He founded, and – for almost 40 years – made the wines at, Kistler. Since leaving his eponymous estate in 2017, Kistler has been focused exclusively on Occidental, his new, family winery on the outer edges of the Sonoma Coast.