2021 Walter Scott - Chardonnay Freedom Hill Vineyard
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2021 saw a particularly smooth, eventless growing season that allowed growers to pick at their leisure—Ken Pahlow says he pushed back the harvest date four times as mild weather allowed the grapes to ripen without spikes in sugar or drops in acidity. The 2021 Chardonnay Freedom Hill Vineyard has opened significantly since I last tasted it in October of 2023, though it still wears characteristic, flinty reduction and requires plenty of air to reveal deeper tones of peach, green guava, tangerine, honey and exotic, herbal undertones. The palate features concentrated flavors and a weightless feel due to its silky texture and vibrant acidity. It's a wine that offers generosity and precision and it will be long lived.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Jeb Dunnuck
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The 2021 Chardonnay Freedom Hill Vineyard opens with a dusty bouquet, blending young peach, kiwi skins, ground ginger nuances, sage and wet stone. Silky, medium-weight textures wash across the palate, taking on a stern mineral inflection as juicy acidity enlivens its tart orchard fruits. The 2021 tapers off remarkably fresh, nearly crispy in feel with a floral thrust and lingering saline tinge. The Freedom Hill is a crowd-pleaser but should not be overlooked by the more serious collectors because this beauty is built to age.
Golden in appearance, the 2021 Chardonnay Freedom Hill Vineyard is also reductive and needs time or decanting, but it’s lush with a floral perfume of jasmine, wild citrus and key lime, and pristine candied green apple. Medium-bodied with a pithy texture, it offers notes of dusty earth and is packed with lime fruit and salt. It has margarita-like freshness and drive. Drink 2025-2035. Walter Scott was founded in 2008 by Erica Landon and her husband Ken Pahlow. Their first vintage was produced in 2009 out of Patricia Green Cellars, then at Evening Land, where Ken worked alongside Dominique Lafon. This clearly had an influence on the wines of Walter Scott, where they began producing Chardonnay in 2011. The next year they moved to their current winery space, which is located in front of the Justice Vineyard of the Eola-Amity Hills. They continue to raise the bar across their portfolio and are producing exceptional wines with purity and balance. The wines for this report were tasted at the winery with Ken and his family, and they do not disappoint in the slightest. These are no-question Burgundian-inspired wines, with a reductive style, though for my taste, they are some of the best wines pushing the bar higher and higher in the Eola-Amity Hills.
This is sourced from a block of young vines that used to go into the St. Innocent bottling from the estate. The 2021 Chardonnay Freedom Hill displays more pronounced flinty reduction up front at this stage, with green apple, thyme, and fresh herbs. The palate is elegant and textured, with lemon curd, light baking spice, and white flowers. It is pure and crystalline in nature. Walter Scott was founded in 2008 by Erica Landon and her husband Ken Pahlow. Their first vintage was produced in 2009 out of Patricia Green Cellars, then at Evening Land, where Ken worked alongside Dominique Lafon. This clearly had an influence on the wines of Walter Scott, where they began producing Chardonnay in 2011. The next year they moved to their current winery space, which is located in front of the Justice Vineyard of the Eola-Amity Hills. They continue to raise the bar across their portfolio and are producing exceptional wines with purity and balance. The majority of these wines were tasted out of the barrel during my visit to the winery in July of 2022. Drink 2025-2035.